The Flogging I Received From Fela's Father Changed My Life, Wole Soyinka Reminisces

Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has said that the strict discipline he got as a child growing up with his uncle Rev. Oludotun Ransome Kuti shaped his life to become what he is today.

Rev Ransome Kuti was father of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Soyinka recalled with nostalgia how tough it was to have spent two years as a student at Abeokuta Grammar School where his uncle was principal.

Soyinka who is one of the extended family members of the Kuti relived his two years stay at Abeokuta Grammar School at the weekend during the unveiling of the Kuti Heritage House at Isabo Abeokuta. The house was refurbished by Ogun State government.

The Nobel laureate said that the two years he spent with his uncle was enough to have shaped his life and made him what he is today, though he later escaped to Government College Ibadan.

“I remember my uncle. I remember that he wielded heavy cane that was what made us. Two years were more than enough to tune me up. I spent two years at Abeokuta Grammar School before I escaped to Government College Ibadan, which to him, was an “ajebutter” school, a school for a spoilt child,” he said. He noted, however, that irrespective of the campaign against child abuse, parents shouldn’t spare the rod.

Soyinka who commended Ogun State government for the refurbishing and upgrading of the Fela’s family house in Abeokuta urged African governments to preserve African culture by investing in it.

Unveiling the Kuti Heritage House, Governor Ibikunle Amosun said the gesture was part of his administration’s efforts at celebrating sons and daughters of the state and preserve the cultural heritage of the state.

Senior Consultant to the governor on Culture and Tourism Yewande Amusan described the Kuti Heritage House as a well thought out idea and investment to preserve the legacies of the Ransome Kuti’s family as a befitting museum was put up to tell the stories of the family as a whole.

Speaking on behalf of Kuti family, Yemisi Kuti noted that integrity, human values, hard work, selflessness, and patriotism that were put up by her family to national development in various fields of human endeavours translated to what the government and people were celebrating and not material wealth or position.

Other memnebrs of the Kuti family who attended the event were Dotun and Yeni with their spouses.