For Nigeria and the outside world, 2 August 1997 was a black day; unforgettable, particularly for musicians.
It was a day Fela Anikulapo-Kuti died of opportunistic ailments caused by the dreaded Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS, as announced to the world and his fans by his immediate elder brother, Prof. Olikoya Ramsome-Kuti, at a crowded press conference inside the then Afrika Shrine, Pepple Street (now in the heart of Computer Village Ikeja, Lagos) a day after his passing.
The announcement of the cause of the death of a loved one (something that was novel then in Nigeria) further sent shockwaves across the country. Like many die-in-the-wool fans of the legend, simply known as Fela, Dr. Orlando Owoh (the Cennery master) questioned the authenticity of the news in one of his songs, Wetin Kill Fela?
However, one thing that cannot be questioned or doubted is the fact that the creator of afrobeat genre was one of the foremost freedom fighters in Nigeria who waged war against the military regimes in Nigeria.
It is also on record that he was the most arrested, detained and beaten citizens, sued and charged with all sorts of allegations including abduction of teenage girls all because of his uncompromising stance against the military. Such was his fate until he died on that Saturday afternoon, 2 August 1997.
While Fela was brutally manhandled by the khaki boys, his fame and music grew like wild harmattan fire among Nigerians of all ages; even among the same khaki boys who were the butt of his songs. He remained one of the musicians in the world that founded his own genre of music, which many bands now play all over the world and, which has been corrupted by his own people, the Gen z boys and girls, to mean afrobeats.
He was enemy No. 1 of the leaders of the successive military regimes that had governed Nigeria, especially from the era of Generals Olusegun Obasanjo down to Sani Abacha, all of whom he used some of his songs like Army Arrangement, Zombie, and so on to lambast.
Coming from this background, no Nigerian expected the military, not even the most benevolent one, if there was anything like that, to bestow him with a national honour for his contributions to the world of music.
But if the military did not look his side because he was a marked man, and was not in bed with them with his lyrics, can we say the same of successive civilian administrations that have ruled this country from 1999 till date.
Instead, they neglected Fela; they have forgotten that even before 12 June 1993, there was Fela. They have forgotten that he fought the military in his quest for a democratic Nigeria where no man is oppressed, where we are not ‘dashed’ human rights, where human ‘right is our property’. The civilians he fought for, that he his mother died for from the injuries she sustained when she was thrown down from Fela’s Surulere building the day soldiers from Abati Barracks torched the house.
Not even the progressive government of Nigeria, led by President Bola Tinubu feels that he deserves even the lowest award of Order of the Niger. Fela ought to be among those whose names are written in letters of gold even if it is posthumous honour.
It is time for Fela to be recognised!
Same for Sonny Okosuns, who used his Ozzidi (there is a message or zi ga ha ozi) brand of reggae to put Nigeria positively on the world map with songs like Papa’s Land, Fire in Soweto, Which Way Nigeria, among others.
Fire in Soweto was particularly a condemnation of the then apartheid South African government for the killing of unarmed school children by the country’s police, while Papa’s Land sought to know who owes South Africa that was then led by the minority whites, instead of the majority blacks. For this he became a persona non-granta in South Africa and the song was also banned in the apartheid enclave, which shot up the sales of the albums. Instantly, he became the world’s famous artiste even among freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela, Walter Susulu, Mbeki senior and the whole leadership of African National Congress.
What of Which Way Nigeria? The song caught the fancy of Master Sgt. Samuel Doe and his band of soldiers that included Charles Taylor, Yommie Johnson. They used it as a marshal song when they staged the coup that topped Liberia’s first president, William Tolbert. Yet Okosuns, who released the album, is not recognised in his home country.
Not even his friends, Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida considered him for an award despite the fact that he was very close to the duo.
How long shall we be ‘patient….’ like he sang in Which Way Nigeria before we see the children of these musicians mount the stage to collect their fathers’ posthumous award?
Time shall tell.
Okogene, publisher of charlesokogene. com, wrote in from Lagos and can be reached on [email protected]
