07/08/2025
THE DAY NIGERIA STOOD STILL – FELA’S FAREWELL IN A GLASS CASKET"
When Fela Anikulapo Kuti died on August 2, 1997, it wasn’t just the death of a man — it was the passing of a movement. Lagos, and indeed much of Nigeria, went silent. But then, it erupted in song, in drums, in tears, and in dance — a final tribute to the Abami Eda.
Days later, a glass casket was placed in the middle of Tafawa Balewa Square. Inside lay the man who had spoken truth to power, the man who defied military regimes with saxophone in hand and fire in his lyrics. It was a sight like no other.
Thousands flooded the venue. Men and women from all walks of life — fans, fellow musicians, market women, even people who had once criticized him — all came to pay their respects. His body, dressed in vibrant Ankara, lay peaceful, as if still listening to the rhythm of Afrobeat echoing from massive loudspeakers.
Some came in full traditional attire, others with fists raised high, chanting:
“FELA! FELA!! FELA!!!”
There were weeping mothers, young students who’d memorized his lyrics, and elders who had danced to his tunes in the 70s. The air was thick with heat, incense, and emotion.
As the sun set, his glass casket was carried through the streets of Lagos in a procession that lasted hours. Traffic stopped. Time slowed. The people of Kalakuta, and Nigeria at large, had come out for their hero.
He was later buried at his home in Ikeja, but his spirit never left.
Fela didn’t just die.
He transitioned.
And in that moment, a nation remembered how deeply one man could shake the system — and still be loved.
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