Burna Boy had everyone in their feelings as he recounts the terrible incident that took place in Lekki Tollgate on the night of October, 20th of 2020 on a new song he calls “20 10 20”.
Burna Boy isn’t new to socially conscious music. He has songs that are inspired by the happenings in Africa like “Collateral Damage, Another Story, Monsters You Made” and others.
He has also been vocal about the nonchalant nature of Nigerians’ towards Bad Governance, at one point saying Nigerians deserve the bad leaders they have.
This saw him been dragged after he remained silent for a while when the #EndSars protest began.
Though later Nigerians later forgave him after he contributed in his own special way to the protest by running sponsored Ads and establishing Project Protect, an organization to help protesters.
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While many other artists have done songs on the issue of #EndSars, Burna decided to talk about the incident that scarred people’s minds, what is known as the “Lekki Massacre”.
The song which is named after the date of the incident is an emotional rollercoaster for anyone who watched the videos from the incident online.
The intro of the song goes;
“Shey you never hear
About the things wey happen there Abi your eye never clear
Mankind so wicked
Lets talk about my government open your mind and your ears Wetin happen
Shey na jazz o
Make my people suffer suffer All their nyanshes don dey open Everything don scatter scatter”
Then he follows with;
“20th of October 2020
You carry army go kill many youth for LekkiNa so WATER OOO WATER runaway my eyes Nothing you go talk wey go justify the case of thеir murder”
Here he refers to the incident and how Armed Forces shot at unarmed protesters who were singing the National Anthem and whose only crime was protesting for their rights to life.
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Then he continues with;
“The chief of staff, thе commander and the army wey carry order
Mr President, Mr Governor
Godfather, gbo gbo IJOBA
All your atrocity
All of your corner corner
Make all the DEADBODY disturb you for your dream”
Here Burna refers to the President, The Lagos State Governor, and his supposed Godfather, Tinubu who is referred to as the ‘Jagaban’ of Lagos. He prays that the spirits of those who were killed during the protests.
“The money wey you thief yapa for your azza You don turn our graduates to common beggars All the book them go no matter
Cuz you no go get job if you no know godfather”
In the lines above, Burna talks about prevalent problems in Nigeria, Corruption, and unemployment.
He blames them for turning Graduates into beggars as they are unable to find jobs. He also talks about how in Nigeria, if you don’t have powerful connections, it’s hard to get a job.
Like Popular activist, Aisha Yesufu said, “The Nigeria of my dreams is when the son of Nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody”.