Outspoken veteran rapper and former Remedies group
member, Eedris AbdulKareem, took to the stage at the just
concluded Felabration to accuse incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, of
killing the Afrobeat founder, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
Fela ‘Abami Eda’ Anikulapo-Kuti was arrested several
times under various military regimes, but Fela was sentenced to five
years in prison under the then Buhari-led government for currency
smuggling in 1983, something several rights groups like Amnesty
International, considered politically motivated.
Fela only regained his freedom two years later when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida came into power in a coup that ousted Buhari.
Seun Kuti, one of Fela’s sons, showed dissatisfaction when Buhari was back as a democratic president.
He was reported by The Guardian UK as saying about Buhari:
“For you to jail that man you must be inherently evil.”
On October 16, at the current Felabration 2015, Abdulkareem ranted on stage about Buhari killing Baba 70, Naijaside reports.
He said:
“In 1976, na Buhari kill Fela. Na the same old people dey rule us.”
What he was implying is unclear as the original events of the period differ from his statement.
In 1977, Fela and the Afrika ’70 released the album
Zombie, an attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to
describe the methods of the Nigerian Military.
The album a smash hit and this infuriated the
Obasanjo-led government, setting off a vicious attack against the
Kalakuta Republic, during which one thousand soldiers attacked the
commune.
Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother
(whose house was located opposite the commune) was thrown from a window,
causing fatal injuries.
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