Buhari’s NBC ‘bans radio stations from playing Fela’s songs’
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has instructed stations to not play any song by Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a radio host said live on air.
Fela was a Nigerian activist singer who wrote many anti-government songs. He is best known as a pioneer of the Afrobeat genre. If you have not been hearing his songs on radio lately, it’s likely because they have been banned.
“I was on my way home from a function on Saturday and there was traffic,” a witness who heard the host admit to the NBC order told The Realm News.
“The radio in the bus was on. It was around 3pm. The host asked listeners to call in and make song requests.
“When a caller requested a Fela song, the host said he could not play it as that would go against an order issued by President Muhammadu Buhari’s NBC.
“He said they had been instructed to not play any of Fela’s song,” the witness said.
Playing such a song would have rhymed with the mood of a nation that is currently protesting against police brutality.
Recall that the NBC also fined three broadcast stations over their “unprofessional” coverage of the EndSARS protests.
