But all you don hear my song before, Wey I dey sing like this.
When we say confusion, Everything I talk fit come true
When everything I talk fit come true,
E go be say E Kpafuka o, Kpafuka Na quench,
And quench it has, Just as he Predicted, Following the ignored death of patriotism and a way forward in Nigeria, Teeth gnashing suffering and retardation have led us sprawling back to the prophetic message of Fela Kuti, it is rather shameful to see that some 40 years later after the release of his songs about Nigeria we are still battling an eon long problem of corruption, It is almost as if he place a curse on Nigeria, because everything he said came true and the same crop of military thieves are still the ones still ruling the country 40 years later, showing that until we go back and follow and teaching and precepts of Abami Eda we will not row this country forward
Today’s headlines have placed common place to the gargatuan and copious amount of money stolen by people in the government , ministries and agencies a conscienceless eating of the money meant to develop a country 60 years in the same class room of underdevelopment As Fela said then, If I talk say mismanagement na old news be dat, if I talk say stealing by government na old news be dat It makes me wonder about a definition literature which I saw defining Literature as the news that stays news. Would it be out of place to say that the stagnation and genetical passing of greed from the young to the old in age long corrupt Nigeria is so unique that it should be studied and appreciated, is it that dramatic are we really cursed, No we are not!. All we need is true education a change of philosophy and purging away of the Abrahamaic infused greed that make us look individually for heaven rather than taking care of that which is ours.
I would do well not to reiterate some of the endless fables of corruption, I used fables because the stories now involve money eating snakes and baboons, comical and rather shameful. To think that 40 years later the things Fela told us all came true and still and some of the things he said that a re militating against the development of the country, Take an instance fr0m the lyrics above gotten from Confusion break bone, where he talked about the clashing rails of interest from the East, North, South and West with no philosophy guiding them which he symbolizes as the Policeman in the center he atomizes Nigeria to a busy road in Lagos state called Ojuelegba.
Christianity and Islam (Abrahamism) and a lack of self inquiry to find our own compass and lead ourselves by the culture of land Rather than borrow the foolishness other people and let it destroy the people telling each other and go and ask God for your own when a pastor owns 2private jets roughly averaging 1.2 billion naira to do what, We hear of Head of Agencies, stealing money meant for development of the country to the tune of 73 bilion
That money will do more than enough to provide classroom for school children in Bayelsa, Enugu, Benue, Kogi and other states but God will never tell them to do that
The thrust of this article is not only to call us back to the mind resetting songs of Fela but also to show how they shamefully apply to us today and provide solutions to what is so glaring tugging at the root of corruption and how it affects Nigeria specifically and Africa as a whole using the same old songs of Fela Anikulapo Kuti
O.D.O.O. : which simply means Overtake don Overtake Overtake, implies the maneuvering power of a government without its citizen’s interest at heart, the crux of this song show a man in level 03 in a government job trying constantly to save enough to buy a fan in his room, the fan which was sold for 75 naira ends up being 200 naira when he saved enough to buy the fan So as the chorus goes, I earn money from my company, some goes for chopping some go for market before I reach market, government go don enter my plan don burst o. perfectly describes and envelops the daily live of the average Nigeria today
This is the story of every Nigerian today, since we are major importing country our economy flows with the rise and fall of the dollar, dollar which use to be 150 naira is now 450 today so if you were saving to buy something with that exchange rate in mind what happens, well Overtake don overtake overtake
Many people now save money in dollars because of the worthless nature of our naira toady and some 40 years later Fela is still quite right, the song is quite apt, the price of fuel going up what then is the hope of a common man who goes to suffer just to earn valueless money rubbkish money what is the needo keeping such money in the bank when your sweat and investment is not protected by the government The money devalues by the day so when the minimum wage is 30,00 naira per month which is sadly under 100 dollars what I can afford yesterday is not possible tomorrow for context look at the price of cement, flour and foodstuffs today in Nigeria, to make it more apt he said Soldier come put this country for reverse. Abi I lie, Soldier go, Soldier come COFFIN FOR HEAD OF STATE; The song that begs the question of our morals, lives, and our working philosophy. How we worship zealots and thieves who call themselves Pastors
I waka many village anywhere in Africa, pastors house na im dey fine pass, E hard for my people for them to buy clothes’ - Fela
Pastor na him dem give respect pass, Ironic in the sense that the person the Pastors claim to be a model of, said “foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the son of man have no place to place his head, makes you wonder how many pastors in Nigeria or even Africa can say that With lyrics like “ all these money making organizations them call put we Africans into total confusion through Jesus Christ our lord amen, amen. And still with the amount of Oh lord and Haba Allah that they scream they still do the worst things steal without conscience and this is the root of corruption
You see Abrahimsim brings about a bastardization of one’s abode over a prison of belief in the sky, so many Nigerians who are brain washed with the stupidity of these religion tend to want to have more than they have because of the need to feel better and create for themselves a little heaven and paradise wherever they go, a paticularism and peculiarism ingrained in them by the tenet and advertisement of their religion , and to afford this is not quite easy so they must steal more than they earn to create this illusive microcosm.
Which is why many of them build unnecessarily big houses, are seen traveling abroad as an achievement because it is a replica of their rapturous transfiguration, so how best to achieve this when salvation is personal it means that the next person will have to find a way of attaining his own “goodness”: from God, it is because you are not praying enough and not because a thief like you is hoarding all the wealth for himself and unborn children. So until God dies in the heart and mind of every single Nigeria this country will continue to be corrupt and they will keep seeing this land as Putin puts it A Cemetery where after the sojourn abroad you are brought to be buried, Until God dies, the selfish and personal nature of salvation will hinder us from the little we can do to collectively achieve greatness in our country through true social living.
TEACHER DON’T TEACH ME NONSENSE; Which talks about partisan politics and the farcical display of craze we call democracy in Nigeria well at least the white men that taught democracy ought to tell us the students that the way we practice our own democracy ought not to be so, but the last elections that was held in Nigeria with the killing of people in rivers state Nigeria, the death of young enthusiastic 19 years old voter in Benue state forgotten just like that under the sleepy eyes the so called international observers and UN representatives called the foolishness free and fair, With rampant videos that circulated the media of open rigging and ballot box snatching and still the election was fair?
To think 40 years later the same song is still relevant today in Nigeria
Pastor na him dem give respect pass, Ironic in the sense that the person the Pastors claim to be a model of, said “foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the son of man have no place to place his head, makes you wonder how many pastors in Nigeria or even Africa can say that With lyrics like “ all these money making organizations them call put we Africans into total confusion through Jesus Christ our lord amen, amen. And still with the amount of Oh lord and Haba Allah that they scream they still do the worst things steal without conscience and this is the root of corruption
You see Abrahimsim brings about a bastardization of one’s abode over a prison of belief in the sky, so many Nigerians who are brain washed with the stupidity of these religion tend to want to have more than they have because of the need to feel better and create for themselves a little heaven and paradise wherever they go, a paticularism and peculiarism ingrained in them by the tenet and advertisement of their religion , and to afford this is not quite easy so they must steal more than they earn to create this illusive microcosm.
Which is why many of them build unnecessarily big houses, are seen traveling abroad as an achievement because it is a replica of their rapturous transfiguration, so how best to achieve this when salvation is personal it means that the next person will have to find a way of attaining his own “goodness”: from God, it is because you are not praying enough and not because a thief like you is hoarding all the wealth for himself and unborn children. So until God dies in the heart and mind of every single Nigeria this country will continue to be corrupt and they will keep seeing this land as Putin puts it A Cemetery where after the sojourn abroad you are brought to be buried, Until God dies, the selfish and personal nature of salvation will hinder us from the little we can do to collectively achieve greatness in our country through true social living.
TEACHER DON’T TEACH ME NONSENSE; Which talks about partisan politics and the farcical display of craze we call democracy in Nigeria well at least the white men that taught democracy ought to tell us the students that the way we practice our own democracy ought not to be so, but the last elections that was held in Nigeria with the killing of people in rivers state Nigeria, the death of young enthusiastic 19 years old voter in Benue state forgotten just like that under the sleepy eyes the so called international observers and UN representatives called the foolishness free and fair, With rampant videos that circulated the media of open rigging and ballot box snatching and still the election was fair?
To think 40 years later the same song is still relevant today in Nigeria
CONFUSION BREAK BONE; My personal favorite whose lyrics starts this article Fela described Nigeria as cross road in center town with people infused with Abrahamic greed trying to ram their way up the ladder from the east, west, north and south with no philosophy, self inquiry, understanding to guide them what you have is a confused country and that is what is going on today in Nigeria, the president seat is just another example, the East want to be presdent, the west think it’s their turn the North wants to hold on to power, and the south believe that the nation crude resource should be appreciated and shown gratitude for, all these problems without any guiding philosophy make 200 million people confused in folly, And this is the mentality they approach to every endeavor, agency and ministry. They are all trying to get to heaven, heaven in this sense means they believe the country is a stepping stone to where they are trying to be, they have to just grab their own slice of the nationial cake and get going to any contry in Europe or Arabia where they can live theier peaceful and heavenly life, Don’t they know that it is a government official like tham and the collective and sacrificial effort of people just like them that turned that place they see as the replica of their heaven into what it is today.
Safe to say in a nutshell, to tackle corruption is to tackle Abrahamism and the big tree of the captalist religions that have ruined the lives of Africans.
Other songs include : Original Suffer Head, Perambulator ; Power show, Shuffering and Smiling, Army Arrangement, ITT (international Thief Thief), Sorrow tears and Blood, Unknown Soldier are still shamefully apt in today’s Nigeria. So I ask do you stil think it is a curse or a damned way of thinking, Go and listen to all these song and find your own solution. But I can assure you, till we get it right the ghost of Fela will continue to haunt us and whip our hearts through his music, pointing at the folly behind our thought process, some 40 years later after he tried to correct us.
by
Victor Samuel
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