Who was Abami Eda?
You mean Fela?
Oh, that strange being!
Funny you should say so, Abami Eda means strange being,
I hear he was highly eccentric,
Well, I rather think he was Afrocentric,
And his many women?
He only lived the dream of many men!
But he smoked weed and was said to be authoritarian,
I think he was merely a “strict” vegetarian,
The government thought he was a gadfly,
That was because he let fly,
Questions for which they had no reply,
Was his music not defamatory?
Well, the burning issues were inflammatory,
In Beast of No Nation,
He sang of a hypocritical nation,
In Yellow fever,
He discouraged the bleaching diva,
In Teacher don’t teach me nonsense,
He declared government policies did not make sense,
When he sang Kalakuta Republic,
He sang of an affront in full glare of the public,
That’s the stuff of which legends are written,
To speak out without fear of being smitten,
He lived his life to the fullest,
And departed when the ovation was loudest,
He may be dead and gone to the grave,
But about him, we will always rave,
Truth will always be told,
But only by the bold…
-Iguwo Ukwu
