Falana reveals Falz often criticises the government because he witnessed his arrests as a legal practitioner at a tender age
By Kehinde Okeowo
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has disclosed why his son, Folarin Falana, better known as Falz, is always at loggerheads with the Nigerian government.
According to him, the singer, actor and rights activist takes on those in power because he was bothered about his frequent arrests while he was a child.
Falana made this known while speaking at the 2nd anniversary of the Oluyinka Odumakin Lecture in Lagos, where he revealed Falz at a tender age witnessed his arrests as a legal practitioner.
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The popular lawyer went on to say his son often wondered why he gets arrested all the time and once asked his mother if he was a criminal.
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.”
Prior to this development, Falz who was actively involved in the EndSARs movement, recently released a new song that criticised the last election, the track titled, ‘Yakubu,’ featured fellow rapper, Vector.