Femi Kuti Blasts Past Leaders Over Nigeria's Woes

By Joseph Akahome

Three time Grammy Award nominee and leading Afro Beat exponent, Femi Kuti, has slammed past Nigerian leaders, blaming them for the corruption which is currently plaguing the country.

Kuti made this assertion, while introducing a new song through its lyrics, during the Save Nigeria Group Town Hall meeting that held on Monday, January 23, 2012 at the Central Business District Alausa, Ikeja.

Former presidents Ibrahim Babangida, Olusegun Obasanjo and former governors Bola Tinubu and James Ibori came under fire from the Afrobeat maestro, for allegedly entrenching corruption and looting from the coffers of the people.

‘It is the common practise of our leaders to steal our money and go’, he stated.

‘If you see Babangida … Obasanjo … Bankole … Tinubu … Ibori make you ask am where our money o‘ he sang in a call and response mode to the audience.

He also said he wondered why Africa lagged behind, even with the abundance of human and material resources at its disposal.

‘Africans, they are everywhere, great doctors, engineers, architects, musicians, athletes, why can Africa not be the greatest continent on this earth?‘ He asked rhetorically.

‘Why did Africa, all these years, fifty years, sixty years after independence not love their people?‘

The town hall meeting, with the theme, ‘Endemic Corruption: The Bane Of Good Governance’ was attended by personalities including Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.