Music is the weapon of the future.” Who said this? Where and when? Afrobeat phenomenon Fela Anikulapo Kuti made this definitional declaration when I interviewed him in December 1996, seven months before his death at the age of 58 on August 2, 1997. It was perhaps Fela’s last major interview, and I rank my interaction with the music legend among the high points of my journalism career.
How did I get to interview the great one? I was Features Editor, Today’s News Today (TNT), an ambitious Lagos-based evening newspaper, and the organisers of a series of Fela renaissance concerts tagged Fela Don Come O had chosen the medium for publicity purposes ahead of a planned show on Boxing Day at Lekki, Lagos. The first show at Water Parks, Ikeja, Lagos, was inadequately publicised, the organisers had reasoned. So they came to TNT’s Oregun office to arrange an exclusive interview with Fela that would run for two days as a publicity stunt to draw a crowd.
Naturally, I was over the moon about the job. I had a partner for the interview in the person of Akintunde Ojo, now deceased, who was the paper’s entertainment expert at the time. For several days before the interview, we prepared and kept reviewing our preparation. On the eve of the date, we had to consult one of Fela’s aides for some guidance on the kind of questions that would hold his interest.
We watched Fela’s pulsating performance at his club, the Afrika Shrine, on Pepple Street, Ikeja, till the show ended just before dawn; and then the maestro sat down with us for an interview that lasted about three hours. If there were signs that he was battling with symptoms of a grave illness, we didn’t notice. He had stopped playing the saxophone on account of some challenges, but he boasted to us that he would one day start playing the instrument again. He made us laugh, he made us think, he made us wonder, and he made us feel we were capable of great things.
After the session, he left the club in a waiting taxi, which was a thought-provoking statement about his diminished financial resources despite his undiminished stardom. The interviewers went away inspired by the magical meeting and the unforgettable encounter.
There is no doubt that Fela’s AIDS-related death meant that a critical progressive voice had been silenced. He was not just a musician but a musical icon with a sense of mission. It is a point to ponder how he would have reacted to Nigeria’s renewed democratic experience that began in 1999, about two years after his death. His unapologetic activism on the side of the people was daring and defiant; and he was willing to pay the price for his anti-establishment campaign. Music was indeed a weapon for him, and he used it against the enemies of progress with all the potency of a visionary iconoclast.
My reflections on Fela were prompted by Felabration 2016. The yearly celebration of Fela’s legacy is applaudable. It is interesting that this year’s concert, the 19th edition, was tagged ‘Everybody say yeah yeah’, a catchphrase popularised by Fela. From October 6 to 16, Fela came alive again in more ways than one. Although his remains lie in an inventive tomb on the grounds of his former residence on Gbemisola Street, Ikeja, which is now Kalakuta Museum, Fela’s spirit soars beyond the restriction of the grave.
Fela’s enduring relevance is reinforced by the country’s current unhealthy condition. The country’s sickness did not begin today, and Fela sang several songs about the deterioration. I remember his song titled Authority Stealing. Fela sang: “Authority stealing pass armed robbery.”
An October 21 report justified Fela’s insightful lyrics. This alarming report based on information released by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) said: “In its report of activities from August 2015 to July 2016 presented to civil society organisations (CSOs) by its Executive Secretary Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye during an interactive session in Abuja yesterday, PACAC said corruption brought Nigeria to its knees under Jonathan. The report says: “His (Jonathan’s) tolerance of corruption was reflected in the sunset of activities of anti-corruption agencies under his watch and exponential increase of other vices no doubt fuelled by corruption.”
PACAC continued: “For example, it is widely believed that insecurity escalated because of the massive embezzlement of $2 billion through the Office of the National Security Adviser under the leadership of Col. Sambo Dasuki, who allegedly diverted the money appropriated to fight insurgency. The problems in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry reached the zenith with multi-billion dollars subsidy scams while President Jonathan looked the other way. At the same time, other vices spread like cancer – kidnapping, import duty waivers, financial recklessness, a profligate legislature, corrupt judiciary, etc. There was no single high-profile conviction under his watch, yet there were allegations of high-profile corruption within his cabinet. Jonathan’s legendary comment that stealing is not corruption underscored his perspective on corruption and remains a watershed in the history of anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria. Under his watch, corruption brought Nigeria to its knees.”
Now, the most chilling aspect of the report, which highlights the scale of stealing by people in power and the consequences of ‘Authority Stealing’: “PACAC said using World Bank rates, one-third of the N1.3trillion allegedly stolen by only 55 people in seven years could have provided 635.18 kilometres of roads, built 36 ultra-modern hospitals in each state, built and furnished 183 schools, educated 3,974 people from primary to tertiary level (at N25.2 million per child) and built 20,062 units of two-bedroom houses.”
This picture makes it so easy to see why Fela sang that political corruption is more terrible and more terrorising than armed robbery. This is why Fela remains relevant. His lyrics are undying in a country dying from corruption.
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