{"id":19656,"date":"2018-07-13T18:56:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-13T18:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=19656"},"modified":"2018-07-13T18:56:17","modified_gmt":"2018-07-13T18:56:17","slug":"macrons-pilgrimage-to-the-african-shrine-by-owei-lakemfa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=19656","title":{"rendered":"MACRON&#8217;S PILGRIMAGE TO THE AFRICAN SHRINE By Owei Lakemfa."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.newsroom247.com.ng --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/code><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-19311\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"730\" height=\"208\" srcset=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1.jpg 1080w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1-300x86.jpg 300w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1-768x219.jpg 768w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Sheriff-1-1024x292.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 730px) 100vw, 730px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is night in the mega city of Lagos, the city that never sleeps. It is Tuesday, July 3, 2018. Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic of France, one of the world\u2019s most powerful leaders, takes a late flight to Lagos, and walks into the New Afrikan Shrine. He had come to the roots of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the iconic cultural ambassador and \u2018Black President\u2019 who joined his African ancestors, twenty one years ago.<\/p>\n<p>The French leader who had served in Nigeria in 2004, seven years after Fela became an ancestor, wore a white shirt and a tie, sat against the background of African drums and musical instruments and gave a pep talk how our cultural workers including Nigerian musicians, journalists and actors can change the African narrative by telling our own story ourselves. As the night wore on, the tie was off, shirt sleeves rolled up and Macron swayed to the beats of authentic African music belted out mainly by one of Fela\u2019s sons and worthy musical heirs, Femi Kuti. At a point, Macron gave a brief performance. The event endeared him and France to the Nigerian populace. This was a major diplomatic victory. It registered far more in the consciousness of Nigerians than any other state visit to Nigeria. Usually, state visits are what they are; choreographed visit by one Head of State to another featuring effected courtesies, rehearsed smiles and handshakes, with the people unconcerned or uninterested. The rest of Macron\u2019s visit including meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, his promise to assist Africa especially Mali fight terrorism, talks to enhance Franco-Nigeria Trade and opening of new headquarters of the French cultural centre, Alliance Francaise, became subsumed in this cultural coup; the visit to the Afrika Shrine, the display of African culture and appreciation by Macron.<\/p>\n<p>The visit and the worldwide publicity, firmly puts the Afrikan Shrine on the universal tourism map; if the French President can visit the Afrikan Shrine and appear happy, why not other visitors from France or Europe? It is to the glory of Fela and the continuation of his enviable legacy by his children including Femi, Yeni and Seun. It is also to the glory of Nigeria for producing such an icon. Common sense dictates that the Nigerian state invests in the Shrine and other cultural centres to boost tourism which is a viable alternative to our oil monoculture. A good beginning will be to institutionalize Fela and his legacy very much as South Africa did to Nelson Mandela.<\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=16681&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n<p>With Macron\u2019s visit, I recall the state visit to France by then Nigerian Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, the military dictator who styled himself \u2018President\u2019. In his self-glorification, he thought he was on a triumphant visit to France. I was then working in the VANGURAD Newspapers and the State House Correspondent, Ogbeni Tope Awe was on Babangida\u2019s entourage. In those days, the fastest means of sending stories was the telex. Tope ran to a post office in Paris to send his story on the visit. The telex operator called his attention to an \u2018error\u2019 She told him he made a mistake on the name of the Nigerian President. Tope checked and it was Ibrahim Babangida he had written. Puzzled, he asked the lady who she thought the Nigerian President was, and she replied \u201cFela\u201d Babangida despite being dictator, controlling the country\u2019s resources, detaining critics without trial and generally dictating to the country, was outside our shores, generally unknown. In fact, a French newspaper in explaining who Babangida was to the French people, was reported to have said, he was from Fela\u2019s country.<\/p>\n<p>Such was the reach and influence of Fela \u2018The Black President\u2019 who through his intellect, musical prowess, commitment to Pan Africanism and social justice, influenced millions across the world and became an international icon.<\/p>\n<p>The French President might have been attracted to Fela\u2019s music, and it is to the greater glory of the African idol and African cultural development, that he visited the new African Shrine dedicated to the latter.<\/p>\n<p>Fela had given recognizable shape to Afro Beat. He regarded his music as an instrument of struggle for the emancipation of Nigerians and the Black People. To him, it was not about making money, indeed those who knew him were aware, he had a sort of disdain for money. He gave out so generously that he could give all he had, and be financially broke. To him, the struggle for emancipation, included African ancestors like Kwame Nkrumah. He therefore thought his club was not merely for social purposes, but also spiritual. So he called it the Afrikan Shrine. He also regarded his band as such, so it was called Egypt \u201980 in recognition of the ancient Black Egyptian Civilization that gave birth to modern human civilization. His songs and their titles tell the Nigerian and African story. Fela taught us and sang that Nigeria is a \u2018Big Blind Country, BBC\u2019 run by \u2018Beasts of No Nation\u2019 using \u2018Zombie\u2019 (soldiers) and the notorious police especially in \u2018Alagbon Close\u2019 to repress the people in \u2018Power Show\u2019 To him, that is why Nigerians are \u2018Suffering and Smiling\u2019 and subjected to a life of \u2018Sorrow, Tears and Blood\u2019 However he knew that the masses are like \u2018Water No Get Enemy\u201d except to their oppressors who are engaged in \u2018Trouble sleep, Yanga Go Wake\u2019 leading to a country of \u2018Confusion Break Bones\u2019 So, there can be no \u2018Agreement\u2019 between the people and their neo-colonial rulers with the struggles ultimately leading to \u2018Coffin for Head of State\u2019<\/p>\n<p>On Africa, he locates the problem in the emergent elites who are suffering from \u2018Ikoyi Blindness\u2019 just like their returnee colleagues who are merely \u2019Johnny Just Drop, JJD\u2019 To Fela, the African elite is just \u2018Mr. Follow Follow\u2019 or what Franz Fanon characterised as \u201cBlack Skin, White Masks\u201d The African elites, Fela sang, are \u2018Opposite People\u2019 suffering from \u2018Colonial Mentality\u2019 who cannot hear the \u2018Black Man\u2019s Cry\u2019 , that is \u2018Why Black Man Dey Suffer\u2019 today. Fela loved women, that is why on the African \u2018Lady\u2019 it is an \u2018Open and Close\u2019 case.<\/p>\n<p>Fela, in death, is remembered and honoured with a visit to his Afrikan Shrine by a sitting French President, in contrast, Babangida who went to France on state visit, is alive, is not visited, and has paled into insignificance even in Nigeria. While Babangida was very rich, controlled the Armed Forces and built mansions including the hill top he lives in, Fela was not and could not afford to build a single mansion. In fact, the new Afrikan Shrine was built after his death. It is a lesson about genuine sacrifice and the need to build a worthy legacy. To serve humanity, is never to die. Fela lives on!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/delta-is-working-new-200618-banner-ad-online-234-x-60px-f-4.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19511\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/delta-is-working-new-200618-banner-ad-online-234-x-60px-f-4.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"3033\" height=\"376\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.newsroom247.com.ng --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is night in the mega city of Lagos, the city that never sleeps. It is Tuesday, July 3, 2018. Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic of France, one of the world\u2019s most powerful leaders, takes a late flight to Lagos, and walks into the New Afrikan Shrine. He had come to the roots of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[4883,4884,4885],"class_list":["post-19656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-afrikan-shrine","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-fela"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FELA-1.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-572","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19659,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19656\/revisions\/19659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}