Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti has clarified that his late father, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, did not direct his activism against the Nigerian government, but rather against the country’s wealthy elites. This revelation came during Seun Kuti’s appearance on the Zero Conditions podcast.
According to Seun Kuti, misconceptions about his father have led to distorted views of his activism. He explained that many people wrongly believed that Fela was in conflict with the government, when in fact, his target was the affluent class in Nigeria. “People have a lot of misconceptions about my family and what we’ve done or didn’t do,” Kuti said. He recalled how he once believed the story that his father had bought a car, cut off the roof, and used it for transporting vegetables—a myth he later learned was false.
Seun Kuti suggested that such stories were part of a larger narrative designed to discredit his father. “There were rumors that he did such things to make him seem crazy and frivolous,” he explained. “Back then, when colonization had just ended, such acts would have been difficult to justify, especially when people were suffering.”
He stressed that Fela’s music, including tracks like “Lady,” “Swegbe and Akpako,” “Ikoyi Blindness,” and “Ikoyi versus Mushin,” primarily critiqued the wealthy elite rather than the government itself. “Fela did not fight the government of Nigeria; he fought the rich folks of Nigeria,” Kuti asserted.
Seun Kuti highlighted that the wealthy elite, who controlled the media, collaborated with the government to undermine Fela’s reputation. “As the government was physically assaulting him, the rich folks who owned the media backed them up with lies and propaganda to justify the punishment he was receiving,” he said.
This clarification sheds new light on the true nature of Fela Kuti’s activism and the challenges he faced from the powerful elite in Nigeria.