Olufela Olufemi Kuti, popularly known as Femi Kuti is the eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Fresh from the recently celebrated Felabration, an annual festival of music and arts in memory of Fela at the Afrika Shrine, Femi spoke with Bose George bluntly about the state of the nation, leadership, the forthcoming general elections and other issues.
Felabration was initiated to celebrate your dad’s birthday, to celebrate the times and life of Fela, what did you really miss about him?
His jokes mainly and the way he interprets the political situation. He had a very unique way of doing this. Probably the way he was beginning to relate with his grandchildren was very interesting to us. These are what I missed about him.
Your dad was like a prophet. All he said about Nigeria in his music is what the country is experiencing. Your music too has its message for the country, the society and the younger generation, would you give politics a shot someday?
No, politics is not for me. I’m a musician. A hard-core musician. I only sing about things that concern and bother me. I don’t want to go into politics. The way politics is practiced in this country is very disheartening and discouraging. But if there’s a young party comprising young committed youths, I would support them.
I would support a vibrant new generation that wants to go into politics. At my age, I don’t think I have the strength to run up and down Nigeria as a politician. The way this country is, we need young, energetic people that would ply this country, north, south, east, west and every corner. Politics is not for old people. The problem of this country cannot be solved by old people.
You said you’re old, but President Buhari still wants to come back for second term, what is your take on that?
He is very old. He is like a great grandfather. He should have retired. It shows you how much they all love power so much. When you are 20 and you see a 50-year-old man, he is old. To my children, I’m old. I’m not in my 30s or 40s. The energy I had 10 years ago is not there again. If it wasn’t for my job, I would have retired but the music business is so difficult and I have many responsibilities that I have to do what I do.
Would I want to leave this for politics? Let me be sincere with myself. No. if I was this age, probably at 56, it’s still a good age to go into politics but at 70/80 what would I want to be a ruler for? If I feel this way at this age, then at 70 years and with a country like Nigeria how would I cope? My life is not made that way. My life is made to be a musician.
Buhari and Atiku are old. When they drew that constitution they should have said that their generation should be barred from participating in politics. The constitution should have encouraged younger people to quickly take their destiny into their hands. But again, who overhauled the constitution; it was (Gen. Abdulsalami) Abubakar, former military man. Again, he protected them. Atiku was in Customs and Buhari, a soldier.
Atiku had been there before, he should have retired. These people should let go of power. We need a vibrant new generation of young people that understand that their destiny is in danger. People like me should be in an advisory kind of role. I have a son. He is 23, and my plan is that I have to groom him to the best of my ability since he wants to play music.
If I don’t do this, he will never be a youth, he will always be behind me and I will oppress him till I’m 70 or 80 years. By the time he knows it, he will be clocking 50 years and his life will be finished because I would have overshadowed and oppressed him. He would be a band member or a common musician in my band.
But if I really love him as a father, I would groom him, give him all the secrets that I’ll probably would not pass to anybody except my children because I want this family legacy held intact. I will groom him because I have a different approach from my father’s, because I left my father to find my footing. So, I have learnt a lot from that move I did. I could give my son or my children all the secrets that I have learnt. Tell me, what does Buhari want to still do there?
He was there before; he didn’t do well when he was there. Those of us alive still remember his days as military head of state. He is here again. At his age, he came back because he said he wanted to stop corruption. How did he become president? It is by taking from corruption. All those that donated money to him to win election what are they?
The same things he was accusing others of, the Sarakis, the Tinubus, Amaechi, they are all suspects. Nigerians still think these people are all suspects. There is no court case against them, but they are suspects. They acquired all these wealth from where? They are big suspects in the minds of the citizens but they campaigned for Buhari to win election.
If Buhari so loves this country, where are the young people that he is grooming to take over when one day he is no more? Where are the young people that these political parties are grooming independent of themselves to take over affairs of this country? Again, you could groom god-sons and god-daughters, yet we need young people to be groomed independent of the structure we see today.
We need independent-minded young people, very exposed, that would see this country from a different angle. Where are the 30-year-olds? where are the 40-year-olds? The only person we are talking about now is Sowore. But we all know that he cannot win. Shouldn’t one of them be grooming someone like him?
Or be at the back and say this is someone that should be given a chance to rule. From what we see, this system is very oppressive; it has been oppressive from day one. Where are our young citizens that would say enough is enough, this is our time.
I left my father because I saw that I was not going to have my youth. I didn’t want to be under his slide. I wanted to stay on my own, even if I fail let me experience the failure. Some people would say because of Fela I am popular but they are very wrong. Those that know my career know that I’m not successful because Fela is my father.
Yes, whatever I do, it will always be said that it is because Fela is my father. After writing probably over 140 songs, with 10 albums, still writing songs and breaking records with my saxophone. Is it my father doing it? But our credit would always go to Fela. He was a Ransome-Kuti. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was his mother. They were great people in their time.
That is why the legacy is a great legacy that it cannot be toyed with. Where is the legacy of Nigeria? If they were so concerned they should show us one of their legacies. They should point to a young vibrant woman or young vibrant girl that they are supporting. They just want to hold on power like it is life and death between themselves and all their pallies and paddies.
I have already shown it in my career that I don’t want to hold on to this legacy, that I die and I cannot show that I have groomed my child so that he could stand like a man. That I think will be the biggest sin I would have committed in my life. In whatever profession he wants to go, even if it is sports, he must be seen as a winner.
If he’s going into Medicine/Surgery or become a governor, it must be seen in him now because I’m his father. My eldest child is 23, but people are seeing that the Afrobeat legacy would continue. They have seen it in his future and so also my other children who are already playing musical instruments. A father must provide for his children.
What have these politicians provided for Nigeria? Education is a failure, health is a failure, and the structures are failures. No good roads. What is the legacy of this country today? Buhari has been there, Atiku has been there, Obasanjo has been there and Babangida has been there too. What are their legacies for this country? Point to one legacy. It is people that have ‘chop’ inside the corruption that would defend them that they brought telephone to Nigeria as if that is a legacy.
Those kinds of words are insults to our integrity. Do you know that if the government gives us electricity today, we would jump as high as possible and praise that government? It is the right of the citizens to have electricity, to have free healthcare and when they repair the roads, they are not doing us a favour, because they are nothing but civil servants. The president is just a servant. Why does the president beg for your votes and when he becomes the president, we now have to say, ‘sir’ to him.
Where is that humility displayed before he won the election? Once they win they just change and the whole nation bows to them. That humility must continue in office and the citizens must always be telling them you are nothing but a servant to the nation because that is what they are. What is the ‘bigmanism’ that they are doing?
Even in any business, the Oga must be humble to his workers or they will destroy that business. If you are not nice to your maiguard, he is the one that would open your gate to armed robbers. When you are not nice to your doctor? Wait and see what he would do to you after surgery. When you are nice to people, when you are humble to people, people pay you back in kindness. Where is the kindness of these politicians? Point to one thing they have done.
The most important being health; health is a failure in Nigeria. Education is a failure. Ask me why? No matter the university you graduated from in Nigeria, and another person comes from abroad with same certificate, he would get a job first. We all know about all these and that’s why we send our children to school abroad. No matter the course, we are sure that child would get a better education outside this country. How did the education deteriorate so much?
President Buhari, where does he run to whenever he is sick? London. Even Buhari does not trust his life in the hands of his own people. The Queen of England, when she is sick, does she run to America? Does the French person run to America? They go to their doctors; if they must die, let it be in the hands of their people. That is how it should have been here. Buhari should have set an example and go to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for his treatment. He should have sent the message that every government official must be treated in Nigeria, all their children should attend public schools in Nigeria.
That is the only way the educational system would improve. If you love your child, you make sure that you provide all those facilities. France has one of the best education systems in the world because everyone goes for that education. It is free. You are wasting money going to private schools there because the government schools are better than the private schools. Even their president goes to the public hospitals. I have been to the hospital in France and I was amazed. One of my band members was sick in France and was admitted there. I was shocked.
The bed itself is like an airplane, they did the place to such high standard that it would serve everyone in their nation. Why must LUTH not run like that? When we were young, LUTH was one of the best hospitals in the world. That was in the 70s. I remembered my mother was admitted there. Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti was head of Pediatrics. I remembered he was on the fifth floor and his wife was on the third floor. We used to go and visit our mother. Visiting time was lunch time, and from the gate you perceive the aroma of the food. I always prayed to fall sick so that I also would be admitted in LUTH.
The cleanliness in that hospital then was highly commendable. One of the days, I tasted my mum’s food, the food was delicious. How did LUTH get into such a bad state? It has degenerated to a terrible state. So, health in Nigeria is a failure, education is a failure, electricity is a failure, roads is a failure, housing is a failure. I just returned from Port Harcourt. I visited Port Harcourt five years ago and I was shocked. At the airport they used canopies at the Arrival Hall.
Our leaders see all these things because they travel to Charles de Gaulle Airport, they go to New York, they go to Washington and they see these airports. President Buhari cannot tell us he doesn’t know that the Port Harcourt airport has canopies. The governor can’t tell us they don’t see the canopies. Let’s even forget the military. Nineteen years of democratic rule in Nigeria and they can’t tell us their achievements in 19 years. The sectors that should be their achievement, we can’t point to any. Let’s go to feeding, we still can’t produce enough.
We should be producing high level quality foodstuffs because of the richness of our soil. If we are eating imported rice, for instance, we will look like a fool. Farming should be so excellent that the food we eat are so fantastic, no nation on earth can match us except the Chinese. In delicacies, you go to Calabar, Ibo, Yoruba, Hausa you will be tired of assorted foods. We have food in Nigeria. We should have the best pepper and tomatoes in the world. In farming we failed. We have great pilots, surgeons, and the best in the world. Sportsmen, in France, their national team is full of black people, even in England.
In sports, we are failures. When we went to the last World Cup, it was our attire we went to display. We sewed the most beautiful attire in the world and came last. But in Nigeria, if we ever get to semi final we are happy. That is called failure mentality. Leadership is winning, if they give young people the ability, and we are like godfathers and godmothers to them, they would come back and give us report of their success. But when the old politicians don’t want to leave that place, what they are doing is like killing the future of this country. That is why all our talents are running away.
If I hadn’t given my son the opportunity to excel, because of his upbringing, when he finished in London, he said, ‘I’m coming back to Nigeria’. I told him there’s nothing here for him. But his training back home does not want him to abandon his land. He insisted he’s coming back and he moved back to Nigeria. I told him I’m very proud of him. If I had oppressed him, he would have said, ‘why should I come back home?’ He will just disappear into thin air in England. If I should, call him, his response would be, ‘daddy, they said I should wait to continue my Master’s.’
He will give me every reason not to come back. But because of his training and legacy, he’s excited to come back to excel beyond reasonable doubt here. As a father, I have provided for him. Now as leaders they have failed to provide for him to be successful. He probably would be successful because Fela was successful and his father (myself) too.
It would not be because of the government but because of his double hard work. Every African that is successful, it is not because of their government. It is because of the resilience of that individual. If you can still be successful individually in such a bad environment, what if you have all the facilities? I went to Leeds in England. Not the university but the college and the classrooms all have computers. That is a public school for a 15-year-old.
What advice would you give the electorate as regards the 2019 election?
I’m not an activist. I’m just concerned about the state of the nation. Let’s just analyze this. Buhari is the president; let us analyze his electoral capability. Is he the best mathematician? can he play music? Is he a footballer? what makes him the greatest number one citizen of this country? What has he done to warrant the whole country to bow down to him?
If Kanu the footballer became president, we could say he led the Eagles to victories. What would warrant a doctor that had saved many lives in the hospital, after performing 2,000 operations or a surgeon to bow down to a president of this country? Let me even make it more ridiculous.
As a four-time Grammy Award nominee, what would warrant me to bow down to the president of this country? I got Grammy nomination from Alagbole, where I live. What if I now move to America? I would probably win but because I live in Nigeria, I couldn’t campaign and expose myself more than I could. They still just respect me and nominate me, four times. With due respect, no Nigerian in this country has been nominated that number of times. (Four times).
Even if you want to put my career down, that still speaks volumes. So, these are the examples. Whoever becomes president has to have in his mind to respect the citizens of the country because they put him or her there. It’s not for us to bow and respect that individual. Our leaders move with siren, blocking the airports because the president wants to pass. When he was campaigning, were they blocking the roads?
Any hope for this country?
Of course there is hope. Am I the one to say there’s no hope? I’m just complaining about the things that are faulty. And we have to quickly repair it or else we are going to be in more trouble than we are already. The world is trying to phase out petrol cars. That would be the happiest time for Europe and America. This is where we must now think inwards because we have known their secrets. This is why all those structures must work.
What is the way forward?
The first thing Buhari should have said on his hospital bed is: ‘my people are deprived’ and the first on his agenda back to this country is to make sure the health care system works for everybody. That must have been his number one agenda. As the president, he looked left and right, he saw that he doesn’t want to risk his life in any of the facilities here, even the one they spent millions of naira to build in Abuja.
When he came back from his treatment, LUTH and other hospitals should have been his focus. He has travelled over five times abroad on health grounds. Yet good healthcare system is still not in his agenda. He experienced health issues as the president and as we are talking no health facility is working.
All hospitals are substandard and they will be substandard until he, the president, goes to one of them anytime he is sick. Same is applicable to all the politicians and their families. They should go to that same hospital the common man go to and see how dirty and unkempt the place is.
Who is your preferred candidate for 2019 elections?
I would vote for Sowore, but I’ll probably be wasting my time. I’m not a stupid person. The way they think in Sokoto is different from Lagos, and the way they think in the East is very different. I won’t want to waste my legs standing in the sun or the rain, knowing full well that he’s not going to win. But probably if I want to vote just to encourage the next generation, then I’m going to vote for Sowore.
But for me, to commit my voter’s card to somebody like him, he will have to sit down and convince me that he’s not going to betray the cause. I will be very sure because the minute he steps out of line I will be the first to shout, ‘haa o ti n se bi olori buruku o’ (you’re beginning to misbehave).
Do you know that I voted for you? You are very stupid, I wasted my time and I voted for you. This is the way the electorate should challenge the government that they voted for because it is your stupid vote that put that person into power. So correct that person.
