Jimmy Cliff: Have you heard the news?, by Andrew Agbese
Reggae icon, Jimmy Chambers, popularly known as Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025) was in Nigeria in the early 70s for a musical tour.
What would have been a memorable experience for him however turned sour when he was arrested and detained for three days.
The story was that after landing in Lagos to a tumultuous welcome he had never experienced in life, someone somewhere reported him to the police for allegedly breaching a contract agreement he had signed with him and was arrested on account of that.
The whole allegation turned out to be a hoax as there was no evidence substantiating the claim.
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The late musician described the cell experience in his song, ‘The News’ as ‘hell’ and since then, never set foot on Nigeria again.
Because he was Jamaican, the trending version of the account then was that he was arrested for smoking Indian hemp in public. But of course, that wasn’t what happened.
In the Nigeria of the 70s, Jimmy Cliff preformed in major Nigerian cities that included Benin, Kaduna and Kano. Yes, Kano.
The part of the Jimmy Cliff detention story that got me cracked up was that it was the one and only abami eda, Fela Anikolapo Kuti that went to bail him.
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I try to imagine how Fela must have appeared at the police station to sign the papers and how the policemen on duty must have reacted seeing the person coming to bail a suspect.
One of my favourite Jimmy Cliff songs is ‘John Crow,’ the one used in the 1990 Steven Seagal movies, ‘Marked for death’ where he sang:
“Every road have a bend, every wicked have an end
What your hands commit I know your body mus’ feel
In this wicked, wicked war your time has come
You don’t live right you will have no more fun.”
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The Bongo man has gone.
As we bid Jimmy Chambers farewell, it would be apt to add that he had given us the warning, to Remake The World, with love, peace and happiness.
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