As the undisputed King of Afrobeat rightly sang, suffering and smiling, Africans since the time of colonialism has developed a thick skin to hardship in which ever way they come. Be it bad governance, poor power supply, military dictatorship, corruption to mention a few.
However, no matter the extent of the hardship not all Africans can be cowed, prominent Africans have indeed roared like lions against the agents of injustice and corruption in motherland. Such people include Ken Saro-wiwa, Fela Anikulapo Kuti amongs others. Permit me to take you through the ordeal of these great men.
Ransome-Kuti popularly known as Fela kuti was a legendary Nigerian musician who invented the Afro beat. He was also a fierce activist and a political giant in Nigeria. In spite of massive human right violations in Nigeria Fela kuti refused to be chained, he made himself a thorn in the corrupt flesh of Nigeria's politicians. Through his Afro beat music, he lambasted the Nigerian government for election rigging and coups that ultimately worsened poverty, economic inequality, unemployment, and political instability in a country that is seen as the Giant of Africa. Fela was arrested and tortured severally by military officers, his mother was not left out, she was thrown from a storey building which led to Ber death.
Ken Saro-wiwa in his brief life
time was a member of the ogoni people a minority ethnic group in Nigeria whose homeland Ogoniland in the Niger Delta suffered severe environmental degradation due to the activities of multinational oil corporations in the 1950s. Regrettably despite the vast oil resources abundant in Ogoni Land there was nothing to show for it in terms of development. Ken led the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), in a non violent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland. The Abacha led Federal Government of Nigeria and the corrupt Multinational companies were uncomfortable with the activities of ken Saro wiwa and his group. He would later be accused of murder and hanged.
Not minding the ordeal of these great men, several other young Africans has emerged to prove that Africans don't shut up and Africans can't be cowed.
