On 4 September 1984, the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed Airport Lagos by Buhari regime! Felas offence was that he had in his pocket, not bag, £1,600 (one thousand, six hundred pounds only). He had 45 band boys going with him on musical tour abroad that day! The law permitted only £50 per person! And Fela explained that the £1,600 was for 46 persons! Meaning, each had less than £35 as allowed BTA! But the Buhari regime didnt want to hear this, but arrested the musician, he could not travel again, lost his income and eventually got jailed for 5 years! Late Justice Okoro Idogwu was ordered by the regime to jail Fela, despite the fact that he did not violate any law! Idogwu later went to meet Fela in prison privately to apologize! Fela was released in August 1985 by Ibrahim Babangida who acknowledged publicly that the punishment was wrong! This fact is not to malign anyone, just for records as some readers might not have been born in 1984 or might be too young to know what happened! Whatever we do today will be history tomorrow! God bless Nigeria!
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 13:27:50 +0000