We Grew Up Traumatized Seeing Our Father Beaten Severally. — Femi Kuti
Eldest son of the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, has said he and his siblings grew up as traumatised children seeing their father being beaten by security operatives on numerous occasions.
Femi Kuti, disclosed his experience as son of the late music icon when he featured on ‘How Far with Sheila O,’ a show on HipTV.
Fela, a musician, activist and pan africanist of note, who passed away at 58, sang several songs which addressed deeply-rooted societal ills such as corruption, bad leadership, colonialism and police brutality.
His activism and hard-hitting songs made him the subject of attacks from government forces at the time, which led to his arrest as well as detention on numerous occasions.
Reflecting on the life of the late singer, Femi said he has no regret being his child despite the challenges that confronted him.
“I would say I have no regret being his son. I can’t imagine being a son to anybody else. He has had his ups and downs of course,” he said.
“I always tell my elder sister that whether we like it or not we are traumatised children to see our father beaten so many times when we were young, in our very early teens.
“The first raid was in 1974 when he was brutally beaten, I was 12 then. This continued and he was locked up many so times before the burning of the house.”
Femi said it is unfortunate that the country has yet to make meaningful progress leaving several of its citizens traumatised in the process.
“I know that we’re traumatised children and then of course the problem of Nigeria, I think we’re all traumatised in the country. Maybe we should called it a traumatised nation”.
