How Fela Kuti’s Father Used Cane To Shape My Life To What I Am Today – Wole Soyinka

Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has revealed how his uncle, Rev. Oludotun Ransome Kuti used strict discipline to shape his life to become what he is today.

Rev Ransome Kuti was father of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Soyinka recalled with nostalgia how tough it was to have spent two years as a student at Abeokuta Grammar School where his uncle was principal.

Soyinka who is one of the extended family members of the Kuti relived his two years stay at Abeokuta Grammar School at the weekend during the unveiling of the Kuti Heritage House at Isabo Abeokuta. The house was refurbished by Ogun State government.

The Nobel laureate said that the 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 Government College Ibadan.

“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 Government College Ibadan, which to him, was an “ajebutter” school, a school for a spoilt child,” he said.

He noted, however, that irrespective of the campaign against child abuse, parents shouldn’t spare the rod.