I started listening to Fela at a tender age. Being born into a broadcaster and music aficionados house meant I had access to quite a lot of genre when it comes to music. I grew fond of Fela in particular for two reasons. First, he was the only one singing his Afrobeat genre in my dads vast collection of records. Second, there was a particular record of his where some twenty seven bare-chested women formed the number seventy with Fela himself sitting inside the circle of the zero in the seventy. Those half clad women were my earliest exposure to the female anatomy. I havent outgrown the fascination for a womans bosom ever since. But I digress. I dont know how I came about humming Anikulapos tune this afternoon though. Id been on it for some seconds before consciousness overtook me. Id been humming the International Thief Thief track. Dem set up enquiry, enquiry se moni nuh lost... Na padi padi gofament we dey o, e gba mi o... Then I smiled to myself in wonderment of lifes irony. I thought about how some Jonathanians have been bandying Felas conviction and jail under Gen. Muhammad Buharis military regime as another valid reason not to elect Buhari. Fair. All is fair in love and war and politics is a form of war fought using alternate means. I know how distasteful that sounds but its true. But what really made me smile was my daring attempt to imagine what the abami eda would have sung if he were still alive to witness the last five and half years of President Goodluck Jonathans administration. I shook my head regrettably. Fela probably would have died of shock anyway with the magnitude of corruption scandals that has rocked this present government. It is ironic how after ones death, some conscienceless bootlickers can turn the very essence of your being on its head just to advance their paymasters course. This election period in Nigeria has given many people opportunity to offend our commonsense. You have probably also seen our President, who had the rare privilege of suffering the ignominy of the most cursed President on Facebook social media few years ago likened to the irreplaceable Nelson Mandela. I wonder how insulted Madiba would feel if he were alive. I mean if you think Mandela is imitable, why not simply strive to replicate him as best as you can instead of paying people astronomical sum to convince the masses you are doing it like Mandela. Mtcheeew. In the same anti-Buhari post Ive been seeing Fela of recent were some carefully selected notable Nigerians the Buhari regime also jailed. Pa Awolowo, Pa Ajasin, Alhaji Lateef Jakande etc. I sincerely suspect that this dead men would have gladly excused their names from the malicious post asking people not to vote for GMB on the basis of their imprisonment. You want to know why? They would be too patriotic to allow such propaganda to discredit the only alternative to this firsthand corrupt administration. Any patriot should be. #tryandunderstandwhyicanttagmyoldman# Adedayo OlaOluwa fisayo aka Ogbeni La writes from the Sunshine state.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 15:16:56 +0000