By Spy Uganda Correspondent
Nigeria: Col. Muammar Gaddafi was a Pan-Africanist and Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He led Libya as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then as the ‘Brotherly Leader’ of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.
It is against that background that the Nigerian superstar, Burna Boy revealed that his love for Pan-Africanism and African unity is inherited from late Libyan former president Col.Muammar Gaddafi.
Burna Boy explained why he holds the late Libyan revolutionary leader in high regard during a recent interview.
Burna spoke about issues bordering on racial prejudice, unification of African nations (Pan-Africanism), and why he has more presence in the UK than the US.
In an interview, Burna Boy said that Pan-Africanism and African Unity which were both championed by Gaddafi is the only solution that can help the African continent thrive.
In a section of his interview, Burna Boy revealed that;The Pan-African movement grew up at the end of the colonial era, and saw a collective push to oppose apartheid and resist imperialism.
“It’s hardly a new concept, but it’s rare to hear it discussed by a pop star, so I’m intrigued to find out where he pulls his influences from: is it Fela, Patrice Lumumba, the elected leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was murdered in 1961 with help from the Belgian government, or his parents?
“There’s a pause, and then he answers. “Muammar Gaddafi,” he says, leaning into the camera. Wait, what? Seriously? What about the global exportation of terrorism, the four-decade brutal reign in which dissent was squashed, often violently. “How do you know that?”
“Burna shoots back. “Because that was the agenda that was pushed, and that was the news that was pushed in your face?”
Burna Boy, showed his tattoo of Muammar Gaddafi and revealed that it is the only way he can express his love for his mentor Col.Muammar Gaddafi.
He also revealed why he has more presence in the UK than the US. “Most of the people from the UK, if not all the black people from the UK, and the people of other colour – they all know where they’re from. They know exactly where their roots are.
“Unfortunately, the brothers in the US have been stripped of their whole knowledge of self. So it’s a bit harder for them, you know?”
