Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole
Soyinka has said that the strict discipline he got as a child growing up with
his uncle, father of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Oludotun Ransome Kuti
shaped his life to become what he is today.
Soyinka recalled with nostalgia
how tough it was to have spent two years as a student at Abeokuta Grammar
School where his uncle Oludotun Ransome Kuti was principal of the school. The
Nobel laureate who is one of the extended family members of the Kuti family
relived his two years stat at Abeokuta Grammar School, Friday during the
unveiling of the Kuti Heritage House at Isabo Abeokuta.
The house was refurbished by Ogun
state government.
Soyinka recalled that 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 Ibadan Grammar School.
“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
Ibadan Grammar School, which to him, was an “Ajebutter” school, a school for
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
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
Gov Ibikunle Amosun said the unveiling was part of his administration’s efforts at celebrating
Ogun state sons and daughters and preserve the cultural heritage of the state.
Senior Consultant to Gov Amosun on Culture and Tourism Yewande Amusan described
the Kuti Heritage House as a well thought out idea and investment to preserve
the legacies of 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 endeavour translated to what the government and people were
celebrating and not material wealth or position.
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