Look at the Ferret (armoured car) and the Land Rover troop carrier in Yar'Adua's motorcade at the end of this video (I'll post a picture of them later).
Note that even what you see there is not the entire motorcade.
naptu2: At long last! I have found a video of the helicopter!
Dear diary, remember that I told you about the loud and very noisy helicopter? Remember that I told you that I haven't seen that helicopter since then and that I was curious and wanted to know what it was?
OK, in case you've forgotten, I'll remind you.
General Obasanjo, President Shagari and General Buhari used the big noisy helicopters and they flew directly over my house. There were usually two of them flying in formation. President Babangida almost never used the helicopters and people said that it was because he was afraid that they would be shot down.
The helicopters were not used at State House Ribadu Road until 1999, when Obasanjo became president. This time the helicopters were smaller, quieter and the had a different flight path. They flew into the state house complex via the Radio Nigeria/Ikoyi Road axis.
Here is a video of one of those large and noisy helicopters.
President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania visited Nigeria in 1976 and this is a video of his reception at the airport in Lagos. General Obasanjo and President Nyerere got into one of those helicopters after the arrival ceremonies and flew to Dodan Barracks.
(You can also see a Nigerian Police Peugeot 404 and a State House W116 Mercedes S Class in this video).
RuudVanNisteroy: We are in a democratic regime and that is not acceptable, the incident under Marwa happened under a military regime which is expected. Even after Murtala Mohammed got assasinated the second in command to Obasanjo, Shehu Musa Yardua, was still moving in a 3 car convoy of Peugeot 504's.
naptu2: I didn't know that General Obasanjo used the 600 (W100). I know that he used S Class Mercedes and Peugeot 504s, but I didn't know that he used the 600.
At the end of this video General Obasanjo ushers Kenneth Kaunda into an S Class Mercedes, but CVU officials inform Obasanjo that they are meant to use the 600 (which is behind the S Class), so they both walk back to where the 600 was.
The final shot in the video is of the 600 as it leaves the Presidential Wing.
RuudVanNisteroy: We are in a democratic regime and that is not acceptable, the incident under Marwa happened under a military regime which is expected. Even after Murtala Mohammed got assasinated the second in command to Obasanjo, Shehu Musa Yardua, was still moving in a 3 car convoy of Peugeot 504's.
You really should stop making suggestions to me about the kind of cars and motorcades that were used. I lived very close to the head of state's garage and I know every car that was there and every car that was used. I saw their motorcades and I know that they had ferrets (armoured vehicles) and many cars in the motorcades (including Land Rover troop carriers). These are not things that I read in books or saw in videos. I saw them myself.
naptu2: W116 Mercedes Benz S Class! I remember quite well that most of them were painted green. (The W126 of the Shagari era were mostly painted dark blue or black).
Remember that I wrote that there have always (until recently) been allegations of corruption at the Nigerian Ports Authority? Well, some of the allegations surround one of the men in this video. He became a billionaire (and a member of the donation circuit) after he left the NPA.
This is footage of Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser's visit to Nigeria in July 1979. He is welcomed by General Olusegun Obasanjo at the Murtala Muhammad Airport. He inspects the guards and is introduced to some members of the Nigerian Government. General Obasanjo is also introduced to members of the Australian delegation. Obasanjo and Fraser get into a W116 Mercedes S Class and leave the airport.
Then there's footage of Mr Fraser arriving the newly built Tin Can Island Port by boat. He is welcomed by the general manager of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. He is taken on a tour of the port and then he speaks to reporters, Finally, he boards the boat and heads back to Lagos Island.
I believe that they chose to use SUVs since that bomb attack because it gave them a better chance to escape in case of another attack.
The bomb attack took place near Sheraton Hotel. If I remember correctly, a policeman in the last car of the motorcade was killed. Several windows at Sheraton were broken and passersby were injured by the blast. There was a second blast at the LSTC yard near the governor's office after he had arrived at his office. Since then we've had:
Governor Lateef Kayode Jakande (LKJ) refused to have an official car and he used his personal car when he was a governor. He also refused to move into Lagos House and instead he stayed at his personal house in Ilupeju.
RuudVanNisteroy: The military were the most prudent when it came to convoys.
Yes, here is an example. Brigadier Abba Kyari was the governor of the North Western State. Note his Mercedes Benz stretch limousine (with 3 rows of seats) as he went to inspect the first batch of NYSC members in his state.
Not only did Governor Marwa switch from a 504 to an armoured Land Cruiser after that bomb attack, he also moved his residence from State House, Ikeja GRA to Lagos House, Marina.
I knew when I posted that video of Bola Tinubu's first day in office that it would cause a sensation. I just didn't realise how much of a sensation it would cause.
There are certain very wrong assumptions that people have made because they've only seen that video, but they didn't see what happened before and after it.
1) State governors used stretch Mercedes Benz limousines as official cars during the Gowon era. Murtala arrived and forced every other government official to use a maximum of a regular sized Mercedes Benz as official car. General Obasanjo sometimed used Peugeot 504 cars as his official cars, even though he also used Mercedes Benz cars.
The Shagari era saw the return of stretch limousines and S Class Mercedes Benz cars. State governors used a variety of cars, for example Governor Jakande used his personal Toyota Crown when he was governor.
The military came back in 1983 and all state governors were mandated to use Peugeot 504 cars as official cars.
In 1996 a bomb exploded near Governor Marwa's motorcade and he subsequently switched from a Peugeot 504 car to two armoured Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles. One was brown while the other was wine in colour.
Governor Bola Tinubu took over from Marwa and although he used a Peugeot 504 on his very first day, he later switched to an armoured Mercedes Benz G Class. Marwa's Land Cruisers were used by the first lady, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu and the deputy governor, Mrs Kofo Bucknor-Akerele (Mrs Akerele was later forced to revert to the 504 after her quarrel with the governor).
All Lagos State governors have used armoured SUVs since that bomb attack in 1996.
2) I saw Bola Tinubu's motorcade when he was the governor-elect and he was not in a 504. I was at Unilag to see someone when I heard a siren. It was quite unusual to hear sirens in Unilag, so it caught everybody's attention. Someone asked angrily, "Who is that using siren in this campus?" Then someone else replied that it was the governor-elect and that he had been invited for an event. The first person replied that someone should tell him that people don't use sirens on the campus.
The pilot car was a Peugeot 504 and Tinubu was in a Mercedes Benz W140 S600. There was an escort car behind his.
So you see, that Peugeot 504 was just for his first day and it wasn't the norm (Marwa was already using a Land Cruiser before that day).
This is a beautiful short song from the 1969 Los Angeles sessions.
Viva Africa
This is brother Fela Ransome Kuti
This is one time I would like to say a few things Men are born Kings are made Treaties are signed Wars are fought Every country has its own problems So has Nigeria so has Africa Let us bind our wounds and live together in peace Nigeria, one nation indivisible Long live Nigeria Viva Africa
The history of mankind Is full of obvious turning points and significant events Though tongue and tribe my differ We are all Nigerians We are all Africans War is not the answer It has never been the answer And it will never be the answer fighting amongst each other Let's live together in peace Nigeria one Nation Indivisible Long live Nigeria Viva Africa
Let's eat together like we used to eat Let's plan together like we used to plan Sing together like we used to sing Dance together like we used to dance United we stand, divided we fall You know what I mean I hope you do Let us bind our wounds and live together in peace Nigeria one nation indivisible Long live Nigeria Viva Africa
Brothers and Sisters in Africa Never should we learn to wage war against each other Let Nigeria be a lesson to all We have more to learn towards building then destroying Our people can't afford any more sufferings Let's join hands Africa We have nothing to lose But a lot to gain War is not the answer War has never been the answer And it will never be the answer Fighting amongst each other One nation indivisible Long live Nigeria Viva Africa
naptu2: This is from a funny interview that Fela had with May Ellen Ezekiel (MEE). It's a long time ago but I can still remember the funny part of the interview. I can't remember it word for word so I'll paraphrase.
Why are people surprised that students are joining campus cults? What do you expect them to do when you put them in a faculty. What did you call it again? fa-cult-y. Ehen!
Technology came from Africa. Do you know the meaning of technology in Yoruba? Te ki ina lo ji.
In just a few days time it will be exactly 37 years since this happened.
I woke up and there was another coup. We did what we always do on coup mornings, we scanned all the stations. NTA2 Channel 5 was off the air, but NTA Channel 10 was showing this.
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti - Pansa Pansa (live in Berlin in 1978).
naptu2: I posted this some years ago and it's appropriate to post it again.
I've often heard people say that there was beef between Fela and Manu Dibango, but I've never seen evidence of it. Fela spoke highly of Manu Dibango when he was alive and Dibango also spoke highly of Fela.
(The only concrete thing that I've seen that points to any problem was when Seun Kuti was asked in the 2010s if he could work with Manu Dibango and he said that he respected Dibango but he was his father's rival, so he wouldn't work with him).
Anyway, Dibango was asked about Fela in this video and he said that he was good friends with Fela. He said that the president of the Ivory Coast asked him to manage an Ivorian TV station and that he left the US and went to live in Abidjan for 2 years. He said it was just an hour and a half from Abidjan to Lagos by air and he flew to Lagos every weekend to spend time with Fela at the Shrine.
He said that Fela was also a very good composer and if you listened to tracks like Lady you'd realise how good Fela was at composing music.
He said that the difference between him and Fela was that Fela was a politician and he didn't like to get involved in politics because politics is a messy business.
He said that he performed with Fela at concerts in Italy, Holland and around the world.
There are 4 absolute super legends of African music that blazed the trail for Africans on the world stage. They are Fela Anikulapo-Kuti of Nigeria, Hugh Masekela of South Africa, Manu Dibango of Cameroon and Mariam Makeba of South Africa. This post is about two of them.
naptu2: South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela had not seen his good friend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti for many years, so when he came to perform in Nigeria, he took the opportunity to visit his friend & the following conversation ensued.
Hugh: I heard you got married to 27 women, where are they? I want to see them.
Fela: (Hisses) I divorced them.
Hugh: You divorced them? Why?
Fela: My girlfriends were jealous
Here is Hugh Masekela's cover of Fela's song, Lady.
Some people mentioned the beginning of Army Arrangement and said that Fela lacked focus because it was meant to be a political song but he was singing about X-rated things. Someone else said that he might have done that because of weed. This is another example of what I wrote earlier. These people do not understand the context of the song.
Fela usually performed his songs at Shrine for many years before releasing them as albums. He immediately stopped playing a song at Shrine after releasing it. People that regularly attended Shrine knew all of Fela's songs, even the songs that were never released as albums or singles. Now the question is, what usually happened at Shrine? You'll easily understand the beginning of Army Arrangement if you know what usually happens at Shrine.
I posted this on November 7th.
naptu2: I think the Anikulapo-Kuti family need to release a comedy album. They need to release an album of Fela's yabbis. No music, just yabbis.
It'll be 18+ of course, but they need to release it.
I remember when Femi came to perform in my compound in 1989. Some of the people in the neighbourhood were trying to get him to engage in yabbis, but he begged them and told them that this was not the Shrine.
(I know the people that were heckling him. They were regular visitors to the shrine).
Then one of my neighbours heckled him in a way that got to him and Femi replied,
"Everybody dey sitdown with their girlfriend, but you dey sitdown with boyfriend".
The guy sitting beside him quietly got up and walked away as the entire audience exploded with laughter.
naptu2: OMG! I actually know the article that Fela was referring to. It was in the Punch Newspapers. I'm certain of it.
On two occasions, in 1990 and 1995, Punch's entertainment column wrote that Fela was ill. They wrote that anybody that is close to Fela should advise him to see a doctor. They said that he refused to see a doctor and preferred to take African herbs. They said that he also had issues with his skin.
The issue of "talking to mad man" arose because some journalists wrote that Fela and Bishop Okogie criticised all the previous governments in Nigeria, but their criticisms reduced after Babangida became president.
So I guess that this will be the beginning of my yabbis playlist. No music, just yabis.
naptu2: You've got to give people something different when you are on stage.
Do you know that there were people who used to go to the Shrine on a Friday night to watch Fela, yet the main thing that attracted them was not Fela's music.
What did they go to watch Fela do?
I'll supply the answer tonight (some of you already know).
naptu2: This song is also known as "Alhaji Alhaji". I'm going to post two versions of the song. The beginning of the first video is 18+ (L).
It sounds like the audio in the second video was recorded at Shrine and you know what happens at shrine . As usual a brave (or stupid) fellow yabbed Fela and Fela focussed his attention on the guy and yabbed his life away. The yabbis is also 18+ (L).
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti - Music Against Second Slavery (MASS).
Federlos Circus came to Nigeria on 3 occasions. . .or rather, I'm aware of 3 occasions that Federlos Circus came to Nigeria - 1985, 1989 and 1995. I attended their shows on all 3 occasions. I can barely remember the 1985 shows, apart from the lady on the high wire, but I remember their 1989 tour very well.
I attended every single show that they did in 1989, even the Command Performance.
They had three types of shows:
1) the regular shows (I've forgotten what the gate fee was),
2) the Command Performance (which was meant for ministers and diplomats. Prince Tony Momoh was the minister of information and culture at the time and he attended the event). The Command Performance was strictly by invitation.
3) the free show (I've forgotten what they called it). This was the last show and it was free admittance to everybody in the neighbourhood.
Femi Anikulapo-Kuti performed at both the Command Performance and at the Free Show. Some members of the audience gave him problems during the free show. These guys were regular patrons of the Afrika Shrine and they wanted Femi to do a yabis session. Femi kept trying to tell them that this is not the Shrine and that he is not Fela (he even told them to go to the Shrine if they want yabis), but they would not listen.
Then one guy (someone that I know) yabbed Femi and that was the last straw.
"Everybody siddon with their girlfriend, you na your boyfriend you come siddon with", Femi replied. The guy that was sitting beside my friend immediately got up and moved away. The audience went crazy.
naptu2: All Fela's songs are great. For me, his songs can be put into two categories: the political songs and the commercial songs. I think that the political songs are the greatest, but the commercial songs are also fantastic. This is one of the best of the commercial songs.
This song was everywhere in the '70s and '80s, but a time came when it was difficult to find the vocal version. The instrumental version could easily be found. I'm going to post both versions.
You can clearly hear Fela yelling in this song. That's a technique that James Brown copied. Several bands (including swedish, norwegian and american bands) have covered the instrumental version of this song.
Jeun ko ku o! O de! Chop and quench o! O de! Wacki and die! O de!
Ole, e bami le lo o!
Fela Ransome-Kuti and his Africa 70 - Jeun Ko Ku (Chop And Quench) - (1971).
By the way, Orlando Julius did not create Afrobeat. The co-creators of Afrobeat were Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Tony Allen.
Orlando Julius originally played traditional Yoruba styles, then he switched to highlife in the 1960s. That's where he first found fame. This song was one of his biggest hits.
He then travelled to the US where he played funk music with people like Hugh Masekela and James Brown. That's what he was doing in the 1970s.
Fela had already created and switched to Afrobeat by the mid-1970s.
Orlando Julius only switched to Afrobeat when he came back to Nigeria c1979 and discovered that it was popular here. That's when he released songs like Dance Afrobeat. I remember when this song was released because I was pleased that someone else was also playing afrobeat. It was on heavy rotation on Lagos Television.
One of the things that fascinated me about Fela's music and which constantly makes me eager to play his songs is that I hear something new and interesting every time I hear it. There's always a new line to play, always a new play on words to discover. It's so fascinating.
I remember when this song was released. I immediately rushed to my keyboard. "I must play that refrain by all means possible".
Many leaders as you see dem Na different disguise dem dey oh Animal in human skin Animal e put u tie oh Animal e wear agbada Animal e put u suit u
These disguising leaders oh, na wah for dem Dem hold meeting everywhere, dem reach America
These disguising leaders oh, na wah for dem Dem hold meeting everywhere, dem reach America
Dem call the place United Nations Hear oh another animal talk Wetin united inside United Nations? Who & who unite for United Nations? No be there Thatcher & Argentina dey No be there Reagan & Libya dey Israel versus Lebanon Iran oh versus Iraq-i East West Block versus West Block East No be there dem dey oh United Nations Dis "united" United Nations One veto vote is equal to 92...or more, or more What kind sense be dat, na animal sense
Dem go hold meeting oh, Dem go start yap human beings Animal talk don start again Dash dem human rights
Dem go hold meeting oh, Dem go start yap human beings Animal talk don start again Dash dem human rights Give dem human rights
How animal go know say dem no born me as slave? How animal go know say slave trade don pass?
And, they wan dash us human rights Animal must talk to human beings Give dem human rights
I beg e oh, make you hear me well-u well I beg e oh, make you hear me very well Human rights na my property So therefore, you can't dash me my property Human rights na my property Dey wan dash us human rights
Some people say why I dey talk like dis No be talk like dis dem take to carry me go prison ee-oh" No be me dey talk, na Prime Minister Botha dey talk ee-oh No be me dey talk, na Prime Minister Botha dey talk ee-oh
Him say, this uprising will bring out the beast in us This uprising will bring out the beast in us
Him say, this uprising will bring out the beast in us This uprising will bring out the beast in us
Ke ji keke My argument
Botha na friend to Thatcher & Reagan Botha na friend to some other leaders too And together dem wan dash us human rights Animal wan dash us human rights Animal can't dash me human rights Animal can't dash us human rights
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti - Beast Of No Nation live at the Zenith in Paris in 1984.
Vieybazz: Lagbaja schooled with music and understand this music very well, fela is just an activist wey also get talent to sing, which by that gave pushed him to limel. Lagbaja,! Omo baba mukomuko, that man sabi pass fela countless time
Lagbaja schooled with music? Fela had a degree in music from Trinity College, London. He was a master composer and arranger.
Politics › Re: Nigerian Politicians' Convoy In 1999 VS Present (Video, Photos) by naptu2: 7:12pm On Dec 18, 2020
