Femi Falana, SAN, a prominent Nigerian human rights lawyer, comments on reports that his singer son, Falz, is ’embarrassing the government.’
On Sunday, during the 2nd anniversary of the Oluyinka Odumakin Lecture in Lagos, Falana declared that his son, Folarin Falana, a.k.a. Falz, causes dishonor to the government because of his upbringing.
Falana added that as a lawyer, he was frequently arrested, which led his son to wonder if his father was a criminal.
His comments came shortly after the release of “Yakubu,” a new single by Falz and Vector.
“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.”