YOU recently gave back to the society as part of activities marking your 32nd birthday. What really informed this?
I won’t describe it as giving back to the society. I would say it was a development aimed at investing in my community. We are looking at how we can make people become the best in their endeavours in our own little way. So, I worked with my friends at the French Cultural Centre and the Alliance Francais. We decided to donate French lessons to both junior and senior secondary school students of Agidingbi Grammar school. A French teacher will go there once a week to teach French.
Why did you decide to have a lowkey birthday celebration?
I am just 32 and it is not a milestone age. I didn’t plan to spend much on the celebration this year. Though, I have celebrated many birthdays, but for this year, I only took my family and my really close friends out to celebrate in my own way. It wasn’t a party thing. I threw a big bash when I was 30, though, maybe because that was significant. But as an African, especially a Nigerian, I don’t see the reason one has to throw parties always when so many of our sisters and brothers are dying. If we really look at things carefully, we would observe that we are in the time of sobriety. It is not a time to show personal achievements, but to think about our failing community. Though, I could afford to throw a lavish birthday party, but I didn’t feel it was neccessary. I celebrated my daughter’s birthday recently when she clocked one year. If one thinks about what people are going through in the country, one will feel sorry for them. I am not talking about the usual suffering, but the continuous trend of insurgency, insecurity, kidnapping, honestly, it is crazy.
It is few weeks to election, but you have not been speaking up unlike some years back when your voice would have been heard every where. Does your silence mean you are comfortable with the situation?
No, I am not. I have realised that it is time for me to do more and talk less. What is my talking going to change right now? The campaigns have started. The presidential election is a few weeks away and both candidates are preaching their plans to better the lot of the citizens. I am not supporting any candidate because none of them represents my own aspirations for Nigeria. I look at Jonathan and Buhari; I don’t believe that they can offer me a Nigeria that I want. I am less concerned about their ideologies for Nigeria. What concerns me the most is that we waste people’s potentialities. None of them is talking about the real issues that affect us. We don’t have an effective emergency system that can come in handy when there is an emergency situation, unlike what is obtainable in other climes. This kind of first aid health care system will create more jobs in each of the 774 local governments areas in Nigeria. None of them will talk about that because they are not ready to work. They would prefer to serve meals to pupils in public schools; these are all superficial things. What will it cost the government to strenghten the security agencies and fight corruption to a halt? These are the kinds of development Nigerans crave for. If you throw one politician in jail there are another 10 corrupt politicians waiting to take his job. In this 20th century, our president is showing train all over the social media. Is this the kind of development we are talking about in 2015? This doesn’t translate to anything. They keep promising us that things will get better. Forty years ago, Martin Luther King, wrote a book entitled: “Why we cannot wait”. I implore young Nigerians to read the book and take those incidents he mentioned seriously so that they can know why we cannot wait. We cannot wait for your lame policies. It is what these people make from the policies that they will use to employ us; which is totally uncalled for. This is the same thing we have been fed with since 1980 and it has never come to reality. From structural adjustment programme to Vision 2000 to 2010 to 2020 supported with seven point transformation agenda. These are nothing but lies. My take is that we, especially young Africans, should realise that this is the time we have to do something about our future.
Taking a look at your criticism of President Jonathan, does that mean you won’t vote for him?
Cuts in... I don’t just criticise Jonathan. I have criticised Buhari too because he has been claiming that he would fight corruption. It is not that I am nailing anyone on the wall. The fact is that, I am explaining things the way they appear to me. And, I can tell you that the picture of the things I am looking at is not good to embrace.
You said you want to take charge of things so that the country can move forward, but we are yet to see the seriousnes in you, why are you not coming out?
The reason is that the political system in Nigeria today is not inclusive. It is impossible to have an Obama in Nigeria. My take is that this is the generation when young people should make up their minds and stand by their resolve. President Jonathan said during his campaign in Lagos recently that we should not end our generation like theirs. He said they have failed us.
But it is believed that Nigeria’s problems had been there even before Jonathan became president, do you think he should be blamed?
Yes. It has been there before he assumed power because his generation did not stand up for something good. Their generation was sold out to oppressors and he’s trying to inspire the people of this generation to do the same thing. Today’s set of young Nigerians have to understand that there is no joy in believing their narratives. It is only a few of us that will benefit from it, leaving millions of our brothers behind. We cannot make the same mistakes our parents made and expect a different outcome. We have to speak in a whole new voice. The president claimed that his generation has failed us because they keep doing things the same way. So, we have to change it and start from the bottom to the roof, which is the Okonjo Iweala’s way to fix the Nigerian economy by making rich people extremely richer and making the poor poorer. When people say there is development in Africa, I usually ask that where is the development. There has been no single human capacity development in Nigeria in the last 30 years. Even under Jonathan’s administration, the human capacity development is at the lowest ebb. The only development they pay attention to is foreign investment. Do we check the housing budget every year? Don’t let us go to the time of the military; have you checked the public housing budget since Obasanjo’s time? How many Federal government public housing schemes have you seen? How many people are living in the Federal Government housing schemes? Where are these things? Why should there be homeless people in Africa with all the lands and manpower we have? They don’t think along these lines except how business would work. The business moguls live fat on our money. Can we compare Otedola or Dangote to Bill Gates or other rich men in the world. These are the kinds of billionaires we create in our society. They take and never give back what we can see. What have they brought to the society that makes them so great? Nothing, instead government has been supporting them to take what belongs to us. We heard when Obasanjo was called the richest black man in the world. Also, where is Abiola’s wealth today? None of his companies is functioning. He died and everything disappeared, why? No one is asking that question. I urge young people not to look up to these false heroes. They are not the real change agents, they only want to take advantage of us. None of them could be compared to Steve Jobs. I don’t have much to say about the election because I feel that in the next dispensation, there must be a completely new kind of politics contrary to the politics of APC and PDP. We want a completely different political party that will make the demands of the people its main piority.
Fighting this cause is not going to be easy. Would you be seeking to contest a political office to tackle the problem of Nigeria?
Never, I am not a politician and that is not what I am driving at. Do you know the number of Africans that have died for Africa’s freedom? The young generations are not reminded of what they have done. Today, we are celebrating those that stopped them in becoming leaders. I want Africans, especially Nigerians to realise that people have died for them. Even to write a book to educate people, Walter Rodney, who wrote, How Europe underdeveloped Africa was killed in an explosion in Tunisia and his death has never been resolved till today. Forty years after the death of Lumumba, CIA documented how American government deliberately murdered him. Take a look at Charles Taylor’s case too, among others. These were great people who died fighting the cause of the common man. Maybe when we are reminded of those who have died for us to gain freedom, then we will start standing for what is right in this country. People should stop being materialistic. Because somebody is offering you money does not mean you should sacrifice your soul to him.
Are you talking about the 21 billion naira campaign fund that was raised for Jonathan?
Can you imagine a situation whereby some people were said to have donated a sum of N21 billion to support President Jonathan’s second term campaign. Do you know what this money would do to change the lives of Nigerians? Instead of investing the money on health care facilities across the country, your business moguls donated the money to Jonathan’s re-election bid. The president said in Lagos and I was shocked when I heard him say that: “I do not want to address old people like me, because they are failed completely, they have spent already”. I think this is the most factual statement I have heard in the last thirty one years.
With all you have said, would you vote during election time?
It is not about whether I would vote or not, but I want a lot of young people to go out and vote. My not voting is because I am trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. So, I just refused to be forced into voting for Buhari because to be honest, Jonathan and his administration is not working. Personally, I don’t want to vote for Buhari or Jonathan. Jonathan is not a good president and Buhari himself, is not the solution to Nigeria’s problems. But we need to keep our democracy going except people are ready. This is my opinion and I don’t want people to emulate it. I have personal reasons that others might not have, for example: Buhari jailed my father on currency trafficking. My father did nothing wrong, but he put him in the prison for three years. My first three years in life from 1984 to 1986, I didn’t see my dad; he was dumped somewhere in Maiduguri. This is my own personal reason for a man like Fela who will never commit a crime. I know my dad and for you to jail that man you must be inherently evil. You know when you have experienced such blatant disregard for human right by taking away three years of his life for doing nothing. Will Buhari say he is not a criminal? He claimed he knew nothing about the PTF money. If he says he was not aware about that, how did he know when money got missing in Nigeria? There is a precedence. He has claimed ignorance before, he can do that again. For me, I have personal grudge against him; it has nothing to do with his political agenda, if I don’t believe in it. But to be honest as well, head to head, I think Buhari can be better. Jonathan is lazy and I am yet to meet another president that is as lazy as he is. The fuel subsidy was a chance for youths in the country to challenge this governmnet for its wrong policies but the youth were not united. We had to allow the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to bail us out of the situation. Hopefully, after this election, I hope the younger generation would understand and be more united for 2019 when we will be having another election.
What informed your annual foreign tours?
The fact is that I have to work; there is no work for me in Nigeria. I get a lot of jobs outside the country. You know I have a big band. Fourteen families depend on me; I will be a fool to sit back in Nigeria refusing to take jobs abroad. I am very happy that I have the longest serving band leader in the world and he built his first house working with me, in fact, all my band members are landlords, except me because I have not seen where to build mine not that I don’t have the money. This is how far I have been able to impact on the lives of my band and without our international tours and the jobs that come Fela’s band would be dead. This will be another person that died for Nigeria that they are willing to forget. How many Nigerians can talk about my uncle, Dr Beko Ransom Kuti, who also struggled and laboured in the prison; he eventually died for Nigerians in prison. His last years in life was a struggle and he eventually died. Do we actually know how many heroes that have laid their lives down for the freedom of the common man. This is what kills me when I see people not empowering themselves and their minds or they getting distracted by irrelevant and superficial things. The only person that have died was a Jewish man called Jesus Christ. Many people did not see Him when he died, but the white men came and said he died for you somewhere on the cross of Calvary 2000 years ago. Some people have died for the peace and freedom of today’s generation but it is a pity that they have been forgotten. As far as I am concerned, anybody can die, since he knows he will wake up again. I don’t see anything special in that. He knew He would resurrect, that’s why He said he would wake up the third day. But your heroes that have died for you with no promise of resurrection have long been forgotten.
Are you an atheist?
I don’t believe in the existence of Jesus or God. In fact, I don’t believe in anything supernatural. It is established that I am an atheist. There are enough people that believe already and what has that changed? I have never prayed in my adult life; the last time I prayed was during our assembly days in secondary school. From what I have studied in religion; whatever is going to happen will surely come to pass. Your prayer cannot change anything. The only thing that must be fulfilled is the will of God and that is what religion says. So, prayer is futile. The fact that we are asking God to change His will is a terrible sin. The only prayer we should always pray is that God, let your will be done. Asking anything personal is like we are imposing on God.
But the fact remains that you should always appreciate God for the gift of life?
It depends on the kind of life I choose to live. If I live the life of Jonathan where everything is free I would give all glory to God, not when I work so hard to survive on a daily basis. I cannot give glory to anyone. It is only rich men, like Jonathan who have not worked in their entire life before. The only thing they do is to see people, talk in meetings and share what belongs to other people. They will give glory everyday because you don’t know where your wealth is coming from. Go and tell Bill Gate to give glory or have you seen him in church or heard them talk about God before? Never! It is only those that receive free buzuzu that will give glory to God always.
How is life now as a father?
Everything is new and good things are interesting; my daughter is a new good thing and very interesting. Our relationship is smooth. I think we relate very well because I was there when she was born. She is very special to me and I think every parent says that about their kids.
Could that be the reason you christened her Adara?
Her name means a lot to me. The name represents hope. For me, I am still very optimistic about life. I believe we can still create a better Nigeria for the people coming behind us.
You seem to like pets, especially dogs, why?
My dog, Positive Vibration, popularly known as Vibes is my companion, especially when I am alone. I prefer it than a human being because human beings are unpredictable. I grew up around dogs. My late dad, Fela had dogs and called them: Jamba, Jokotobo, Wukolo and Gbogboloji. My uncle also had dogs which he called: Nini, Asake and Felix. My dog is five years old now.
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