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 wellbecause 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.
Nigerian Tribune