My son, Falz, thought I was a criminal due to often arrests — Falana
A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has said the reason why his son and rapper, Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz, embarrasses the government is because of what he was made to experience while growing up. Falana, while speaking at the 2nd anniversary of the Oluyinka Odumakin Lecture in Lagos on Sunday, said his […]
Human rights activist, Femi Falana
A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has said the reason why his son and rapper, Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz, embarrasses the government is because of what he was made to experience while growing up.
Falana, while speaking at the 2nd anniversary of the Oluyinka Odumakin Lecture in Lagos on Sunday, said his frequent arrests as a legal practitioner always bothered his son in the past.
He noted that this made Falz raise the question if his father was a criminal getting arrested often.
Falana said this days after the release of a new song by his son, titled, ‘Yakubu,’ featuring fellow rapper, Vector.
He said, “One of these guys one day said, ‘Falana talk to your son; he should stop embarrassing the government’. I said which government? You mean that boy who is an adult? Can I give you his number so you can talk to him? But be careful because when that boy was growing up, I was being arrested from time to time. So, the only language he understood was detention, arrest and the rest of them.
“One day, when that boy was six, he asked his mother, ‘Our teacher taught us that only criminals were arrested. Is my father a criminal? Why is he always being arrested?’ And the mother had to say that in Nigeria, under the military, only two sets of people were arrested: Criminals suspects and political suspects. Political suspects are those who are out to expose the criminality of the government. That is what you see going on.”
Falz is one of the activists who regularly hold #EndSARS memorial in honour of those whom they believe lost their lives to police brutality in the country.