Lifestyle
Buhari vs Fela: How Buhari Administration illegally Jailed Fela in 1984
In September 1984, Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti found himself in a familiar position: under arrest.
Sent to England to study medicine decades before, Kuti had instead invented Afrobeat, an infectious version of James Brown’s funk gone global. Radicalized in the United States by his contact with the Black Panthers, Kuti became more than a pop star, but a political force in Nigeria — a marijuana enthusiast, polygamist and sometime presidential candidate who became “the voice of Nigeria’s have-nots, a cultural rebel,” as AllMusic put it.
“In the last military regime I was the only one to speak out against the government and the army,” he said in 1978. “Anything could happen in Nigeria. If they get to the point that everyone trying to rule the place isn’t making any headway they might drop their guard and ask, ‘Fela, do you want to rule us today?’
”Continually running afoul of his country’s powers-that-be, Kuti was repeatedly detained. In 1977, government forces even raided his compound — which the singer had declared independent of Nigeria — with a 1,000-man force, resulting in the death of his mother. And the singer was on his way to the United States seven years later for a tour when he was arrested for what the Guardian called “sham currency smuggling charges.”
In 1984, Muhammadu Buhari’s government, of which Kuti was a vocal opponent, jailed him on a charge of currency smuggling
When it came to Fela Kuti, democratic principles didn’t seem get in Buhari’s way many years ago. Buhari’s government was behind Kuti’s arrest, and the singer was quickly sentenced to five years amid allegations reported by Amnesty International that witnesses were prevented from testifying on his behalf. There were even reports that the judge who sentenced Kuti later apologized to him.
“He went and declared to Fela that, ‘Man, you were not guilty, I was under pressure, I was instructed to put you behind bars,’ ” Rilwan “Showboy” Fagbemi, Kuti’s former saxophonist, claimed in 2012. “‘And as a judge, if I don’t tell you the truth, I will never forgive myself. I came for your forgiveness, forgive me. You did not commit any offense. You were jailed because I had the order to put you behind bars from above.’”
Buhari’s chief of staff was unmoved. “I hope he will rot in jail,” he said.
But that was not Kuti’s destiny. After Buhari was unseated — by another coup — in 1985, the singer was released. He lived to take musical revenge on Buhari — name-checked in Kuti’s less-than-complimentary song “Beasts of No Nation,” reportedly the first song he wrote after he got out of prison.
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He was reacting to the recent protest by Ghanaians demanding Nigerians must leave their country.
Nollywood actor and politician Yul Edochie has urged Igbos in diaspora to return home.
He was reacting to the recent protest by Ghanaians demanding Nigerians must leave their country.
In a post on Facebook, he urged Igbos abroad to to return and invest in their homeland.
Taking to his page, he wrote:
“Ndi Igbo come back home and invest in Igbo land.
If you’re facing rejection on foreign soil, it’s not a sign to fight anybody, it’s a sign to return home.
We have wandered for too long.
Home is calling.
Our ancestors and spirits in Igbo Land are calling us to return home and develop home.
A new dawn has come in Igbo land.
It’s time to return home.
Ana amalu mma si na uno wee puo ilo,” he wrote.
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Enenche claimed that the nation is under an evil spell amid the economic hardship ravaging the country.
Senior Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Dr. Paul Enenche has revealed the problem of Nigeria.
According to him, the country is under a demonic spell and witchcraft.
He said that’s the reason why the people have continued to tolerate suffering and hardship.
“There’s a blanket of sorcery and darkness over this nation; an evil spell making people tolerate what should provoke outrage,” he wrote.
In a post on his official X account on Thursday, the cleric highlighted the economic struggles faced by many Nigerians, noting that increasing numbers of church members now line up after services not for spiritual counseling or prayer, but for basic needs such as rent, school fees, food and medical bills.
“People are suffering. Pastors are drained. Members now queue after service not for prayer, but for help,” he lamented.
He also criticized political leaders for what he described as their insensitivity and failure to address the dire situation across the country.
“Yet, the leaders act as though nothing is wrong. This is not normal. It is witchcraft. A spell of patience in captivity. A demonic tolerance of suffering.”
Calling for divine intervention, Enenche declared: “Let every evil spell over this land be broken! Let those misruling with arrogance and mocking the people’s pain face divine judgment. They shall not see the celebration of their wickedness.”
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Lifestyle
Spirits Are Angry – Actor, Yul Edochie Talks About Why There Are Too Many Early And Untimely De@ths In Nigeria
According to him, he recently traveled from Anambra to Abia state and was taken aback by the number obituaries he saw of young people.
Actor Yul Edochie has expressed concern over the alarming rate of early and untimely de@ths in Nigeria.
According to him, he recently travelled from Anambra to Abia state and was taken aback by the number obituaries he saw of young people.
He attributed the early de@ths to the ancestors and spirits being angry because many have abandoned traditional ways of worship.
He said the society needs spiritual cleansing and every African needs to return to traditional religion.
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