Yesterday Not Today! Attack on Fela's House 1977 On a day like today, February 18, 1977, the Nigerian government of Olusegun Obas...
Yesterday Not Today! Attack on Fela's House 1977
On a day like today, February 18, 1977, the Nigerian government of Olusegun Obasanjo sent a battalion of 1000 soldiers to the house of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, known as the Republic of Kalakuta, to arrest the singer.
When the soldiers arrived at the house, they clashed with the people of the house who threw stones and bottles at the soldiers, the soldiers stormed the house and arrested the singer after beating him, while they also killed his 78-year-old mother, Olufunmilayo. Ransome- Kuti Ta Tagar Bene, who is also a prominent activist for women's rights, broke her leg and suffered serious injuries.
The raid that was carried out in the early morning of the 18th of February came as a surprise because more than a thousand soldiers invaded the house in the name of arresting the famous Afrobeat singer who was keeping young girls in his house.
Finally, his mother died after about a year of treatment, which made the late Fela lead a protest to Barrack Dodan, which was the Government Palace at the time and threw the coffin at the door of the barracks after the soldiers they prevented him from entering. Weeks after the incident, he released two songs, 1, President's Coffin, 2, Unknown Soldier. Sunyi's songs are about events that happened.