A Pot Calling Kettle Black: Dr. Reuben Abati and the Unfortunate Loss of Ideology by Odusote Oluwakayode

 By abusidiq

I’m not really surprised that my backslided beloved astute columnist has derailed, what is surprising to me is the loss of a revered ideology. My own Dr. Reuben Abati has lost it all to selfish political glee.
I know it’s not easy being a presidential spokesman. Dr. Abati has had to deal with all kinds of intrigues and interests. He is not free because he must speak the president’s mind whoever’s ox is gored. He unfortunately sacrificed his hard-earned reputation to defend most times the indefensible. A gallant columnist and erstwhile chairman, Editorial Board of The Guardian Newspapers.
The prolific writer tainted his blistering integrity the day he accepted to serve as Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Jonathan. That day of the decision was the moment he imprisoned his pen of truth. He surrendered himself to the dangerous political wheel and machinations of the ever-thorny politics of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.
When Dr. Abati once insulted young Nigerians for using the social media as an avenue to becoming overnight critics, I felt being a critic is a profession and the access to the social media is supposed to be for the exclusive use of the elites. My eventual short response on my facebook wall read “may the soul of Dr. Reuben Abati rest in peace”. Don’t get me wrong, I do not wish him dead. He is an asset to this nation and I hope he’ll realize his mistakes and re-dedicate his quality to the course of the masses.
What I prayed to rest in peace was the soul of sincerity, dexterity, courage and wisdom that died the day he took up an appointment with the Goodluck Jonathan led administration.
Don’t also get me wrong here about his appointment. He has a right to serve his fatherland. I hope to be of service too when asked to, my grouse is that he took up appointment with a government that had been tainted. Our political parties do not have a manifesto. At his level, he should know why he is supporting a government. Do they have a clear cut agenda for the governed and will such agenda meet the expectation of a crippled nation? As the spokesman for the president, these are things he must be able to defend without deceiving the governed.
His recent message to invincible and nameless critics of the Jonathan administration calls for concern. He called them “yesterday’s men”!
The simple interpretation to the article by Dr. Abati is as Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo explained; “The tragedy of Dr. Reuben Abati is that he never leveled up with his readers. He allowed his readers to be lost in what T.S. Eliot called the shadow that falls between the desire and the spasm/ between the potency and the existence/ between the essence and the descent/. Now that his fortune has changed, he is trapped in Alexander Pope’s admonition that, the higher you climb, the more your ass is showing.
It was not Reuben Abati’s fault that President Goodluck Jonathan cannot communicate effectively with an elementary school pupil. It is however Reuben Abati’s fault that an elementary school pupil cannot understand what the government of Jonathan is trying to do. The reason is not that Reuben Abati is trying and failing. The real reason is that he is so engrossed in the ‘pursuit of happiness’ that he is not trying at all. In Nigerian panache, Abati is too busy chopping- legally, for the first time. And as a veteran journalist recently put it, “You don’t talk while you chop.”
I guess the reason for his article is because the “yesterday’s men” have constituted alleged nuisance to his pay master’s free will to “chop”. They have been involved; they understand how things run in the corrupt system of government and so they are possibly exposing too much.
At least the “loosely bound group of yesterday’s men and women who seems to be on the offensive against the Jonathan administration” have had their opportunities to “chop”, so they should keep quiet even if Nigeria is failing to allow today’s men of the GEJ administration “chop” their own?
Dr. Abati did not face the reality of the issues some of these “yesterday’s men” pick up on regarding the government of today. At his level, I expect professional responses to germane issues of National concern than engaging in useless pen responses all in a quest to possibly keep his job with the “fresh air” government.
The accused have been privileged to be in power and they suffered the criticism of the governed. They were subjected and held accountable for their roles in government. At the time most of the accused were in charge of various capacities, Dr. Abati was just as they are today. He took on the government and kept them on their toes. Has he being a hypocrite all along?
I totally agree with Dr. Abati that the sincere critics are few just like the few comrades who fought for our democracy. He was right in his assertion that some of them “don’t care about Nigeria as a sovereign but the political spoils that accrue from it”. Most of the accused few have become overnight critics and rights activist. Some of them even joined us to protest against the removal of fuel subsidy and the NLC/TUC leadership allegedly suspended the strike action because of fears that the few accused are likely to take advantage of the period to cause national disorderliness.
What I do not agree with is the statement that “President Jonathan has unfairly become the target of their pitiable frustrations”.
Criticism is not a profession and no individual is immune to it. Irrespective of the critics, all that must be sincerely observed are the issues being raised. Let the messages be addressed genuinely and the messengers spared of irrelevant attacks.
Genuine answers must be given to the issues raised regarding the affairs of a nation that belongs to all Nigerians. Requesting the government to be accountable is not unconstitutional neither is it an act of felony.
The Yoruba proverb relevant on GEJ’s lapses says “Tí ògiri ò bá lanu, alá?gbá ò lè ráyè w? / If there aren’t crevices in the wall, the lizard can’t penetrate into it. If there are no evidences of corruption (both financial and practice), no sane Nigerian would make baseless criticism.
The Boko Haram is festering in the North because the government did not address what gave birth to the sect. The Niger Delta and the Southeast have had kidnapping. Yet there are huge budgetary allocations to security.
Roads are death traps; power in spite of the boasts of the Jonathan administration is still epileptic in supply. These are evident failures that Nigerians complain about and which are supposed to be addressed.
There are accusations that the Jonathan administration romance corrupt persons? We all know that the yesterday’s men prosecuted some high profile public officials – whether selective or not. We can’t forget in a hurry the travails of Bode George, Tafa Balogun, Late S.M Afolabi andDiepreye Alamieyeseigha. How many of such corrupt persons have been brought to book since inception of the Goodluck Jonathan administration?
There are serious accusations that President Jonathan deliberately politicized with grave insult on the constitution the Justice Isa Ayo Salami case.
There are accusations that the report of the Nuhu Ribadu led subsidy probe committee is not going to be implemented.
Could the accused be wrong on issues relating to removal of subsidy and the scandals that it generated? The oil subsidy debate raged through the year 2012. We experienced strikes, committees to probe were constituted and then reports submitted. In the end the money collected in the name of subsidy was never accounted for in terms of revamping the infrastructure, education and health sectors.
I thought Dr. Abati would be honorable enough to resign his appointment considering the fact that he vehemently criticized the Obasanjo led government on removal of fuel subsidy. What is honorable in defending the current administration on the same policy?
Is it true that N4billion is budgeted as a mission house for the first lady? Come to think of it, what is the meaning of the office of the first lady? We all know that the office is not constitutional. Where is the money coming from?
These and many more of evident alleged corrupt cases are some of the claims of the accused!
Looking at Dr. Abati’s ass, it is easy to talk about his hypocrisy just like he pointed out to the accused. He possibly climbed to limelight through his criticism of “yesterday’s men” and government.
He possibly used the media machine to his own advantage as a social critic. He used to write objectively and put governments on their toes. Perhaps all those years he had a subtle calculation that has been realized. I understand the power of the media and how politicians use it at will. Can one conclude Dr. Abati used the media platform to gain relevance towards becoming what he is today? I now understand from his accusations that he is in government by calculated design and not by the need to serve. Therefore, in what ways is he different from the accused?
The mistake Dr. Abati and some of his colleagues – Today’s men make is that they perceive every criticism of the present administration as direct attack on the personality of Mr. President. The “yesterday’s men” have not been the only ones to have come under attack. Fellow Nigerians who feel concerned about this country have also come under serious insult from Dr. Abati. If Egyptians find protest as a tool to mount pressure on government, we in Nigeria take seriously the opportunities given by the social media to express our feelings about the failings of our government.
The negativity of the Nigerian decay is evident and Nigerians are not gullible to be brainwashed by the accused. It is believed that constructive criticism should be a tonic for improvement. The capacity occupied by Dr. Abati should not be abused by taking matters of national importance personal. I tried to deduce what he meant in his assertion that “What they do not seem to realize or accept is that the political climate has changed”. Changed into what?
Dr. Abati should be bold to mention names of the accused while the government of the day should be transparent to prosecute any former government official found culpable of corrupt practices in the course of their public assignment. I’m not amused by his accusations stating that one of them was in charge of this and another in charge of that. My advice is that a sincere self assessment be done by Dr. Abati in the capacity he occupies today in comparison to what he was before joining the administration of Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan.
What I wish to read from Dr. Abati are the evident positive works of the president. If the president can’t connect with us, Abati should be able to fill that gap literary. He does not need to be a dirty talker like Doyin Okupe before he is seen to be a performer. He is expected to leave politics to politician while he concentrates on his professional assignment.
The present challenge as a government man should be a lesson. Criticism should not be based on sentiment because no one knows when the “passenger” will eventually become a “driver”. I guess Dr. Abati is now a driver and he sees differently from when he was a passenger as a columnist cum social critic.
I am sure that this is not the Reuben Abati I used to draw wisdom from. It’s really sad to say there was a Reuben Abati.
Odusote Oluwakayode
Abusidiqu.com

2015 Polls: Voting Trend Favours Opposition

 CHALYA DUL

Although skeptics think that the four opposition parties that recently merged to form the All Progressive Congress (APC) are building castles in the air, there exists a real chance that the quartet’s combined electoral value will result into an upset against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 presidential election.
To be sure, if this merger had been forged towards the 2011 presidential poll, the electoral values of the 10 states involved now as well as the nationwide showing of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in that election would have clinched the presidency for them.
The APC is an amalgam of the CPC, the ACN, the ANPP and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). APGA did not field a presidential candidate in the 2011 general elections.
The governors of Borno, Nasarawa, Zamfara, Imo, Lagos, Ekiti, Oyo , Osun and Ogun states met in Lagos on Tuesday to endorse the merger, which eventually led to the emergence of the APC. The governor of Yobe sent a representative to the meeting while Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State (ACN) was absent.
In the 2011 presidential election, the PDP polled 484,758 votes in Oyo; Osun, 188,409; Ogun, 309,177; Lagos, 1,281,688; Nasarawa, 408,997; Borno, 207,075; Imo, 1,406,289; Ekiti, 135,009; Yobe, 117,128; and Zamfara 238,980. In total, the party garnered 4,777,510 votes in the 10 states.
Nationwide, President Jonathan polled 22,495,187 to clinch the presidency; the presidential candidate of the CPC, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, scored 12,214,853; Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the ACN garnered 2,067,301 and Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau of the ANPP received 917,012 votes.
It is common knowledge, however, that some of these governors, especially those from the south-west, put their parties’ machinery at the disposal of President Jonathan for the 2011 poll. However, if they had worked for their own joint candidate, as the APC merger would throw up now, the PDP would apparently not have scored as many as 4,777,510 votes in the 10 states.
Hypothetically, if the PDP had lost 4,777,510 votes to the merger parties, Jonathan’s final vote count would have been 17,717,677.
And if the 4,777,510 is added to the total votes garnered by the CPC, ACN and the ANPP in the 2011 presidential election under a merger agreement, their joint candidate would have triumphed with 19,993,303 votes.
A professor of political science in a federal university who does not want his name in the print told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND: “These hypothetical figures appear spot on, although they beg several variables imperative for victory in the last presidential poll and the coming contest in 2015. However, I think the opposition parties even stand a better chance of wrestling power from the PDP in the next presidential election if they put their house in order and seize on the apparent disaffection with the performance of the current federal cabinet.”
The lecturer added: “In my view, President Goodluck Jonathan clinched the presidency largely on sentiments generated by the way he was treated in the course of the Yar’Adua sickness saga by members of the now infamous cabal who wanted to cling to power, and the parochial polemics a certain section of the country put up to oust him. These apparently didn’t wash with the electorate in other parts of the country and they turned out in their numbers to vote for Jonathan.
“On a lighter note, I also think that the mythic mind of many who voted for President Jonathan was also a factor in his victory, as they somehow thought that the President’s Goodluck name and his mercurial rise to the presidency from the backwaters of Otuoke in Bayelsa State, without his plotting his way to the zenith of national life, would somehow rub off on the country and usher in prosperity for them.
“Perhaps his good-luck charm ran out or something, but then I think there is no such mythical link between one’s station in life and his name, no matter the load of good luck element in it. Nigerians who voted for the president on that mythic mesmerising have surely come to realise that it counts for nothing with the lacklustre performance of the president and his men. The president has been tested and obviously found wanting on the performance index.
Now is the time, I think, for these opposition figures to put their act together and really give the ruling party a big fight for the presidency -- a fight largely based on the PDP’s apparent failure to put the country on the path of the radical transformation we yearn for as a nation.”
But another don who also pleaded anonymity said: “While the hypothetical situation envisioned by these statistics seems plausible, these APC fellows have a lot of work to do if they are to scatter the nest of practised rustlers that the PDP has increasingly become since the return to civil rule. Mark you, I did not say democracy, to the detriment of national progress the way the Nigerian people envisaged on May 29, 1999.”
Leadership

Nigeria: Dp Governors Not Planning to Join Apc - Metuh. Says PDP 'Ll Win More States in 2015

The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has debunked reports by opposition parties that some of its state governors were planning to join the yet to be registered All Progressive Congress (APC).
Describing the reports as false and intended to deceive Nigerians, the PDP said all its governors are working with the party leadership and the President. It said there is no cause for any one of them to contemplate leaving the ruling party for the APC that is yet to have an operable structure.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement yesterday said the fact that the PDP took the high moral ground of decency to congratulate the opposition on the formation of the APC does not cover the new party's inadequacies and its destiny to fall apart in no time.
"Nobody leaves a moving train to join an inoperable one. That the PDP took the high moral ground of decency that we are known for, to congratulate the opposition parties on the formation of their new party does not cover its inherent inadequacies.
"So there is no PDP governor that will leave a stable and national party such as the PDP to join the APC. All our governors are working with the National Chairman and the National Working Committee and the President and there is no reason for anyone of them to contemplate leaving PDP for APC", the statement said.
The PDP also dismissed claims by the opposition that there is disunity in its ranks. Instead, the statement said PDP governors have been paying courtesy calls on the leadership of the party and have been making public statements that they are with the party leadership and the President in his transformation agenda.
"Those who continue to cast aspersions on the PDP and to suggest that there is crisis in the party are completely deluded. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no crisis in the PDP. We are all working together. The governors have been paying courtesy visits to the National Chairman and the National Working Committee and they are working with the President on the transformation agenda. ", the statement said.
Stating that the opposition elements will soon realize that they are merely chasing shadows, the PDP said it enjoys an overwhelming support from the people and will win more states in the 2015 elections in spite of the APC.
Chief Olisa Metuh

National Publicity Secretary
allAfrica

“It is not her first time” – Nollywood actress sent to Kirikiri for stealing (PICTURED)

 by Chi Ibe

Nollywood actress, Yetunde Akilapa, was on Thursday detained at the Kirikiri Prison, Lagos for allegedly being in possession of 100 pieces of master keys.
According to reports, on Wednesday she was first detained at the Alade Divisional Police headquarters in Somolu, Lagos after somone lodged a complain and accused her of stealing the 100 pieces of master keys.
According to a statement by the compliant at the police headquarters, Akilapa had been accused of stealing before. “There was a day she came home to see my relative and when I opened her bag after she went to the toilet I found a phone that was later found to have been stolen. We seized the phone from her and returned it to the owner despite her denying that she stole the phone,” she said.
At the Magistrate’s Court in Somolu on Thursday February 7, police prosecutor, Inspector Anyanwu, reported that a mob had arrested Akilapa accusing her of conspiracy and stealing of bunches of keys, an offence punishable under section 383, 516 and 517 criminal code of Lagos state, the prosecutor stated.
Reacting to the charges, Akilapa said: “I have featured in about five films including Aiyelaba.
“I produced Bunmi Akata which I use a bunch of 100 keys to act. I am also a makeup artist.
“On the day I was arrested, a woman named Mama Ayoola, called me and said that I should bring weaveon for her. I did not know Mama Ayo Ola was not living at that compound. When I got there, I asked a girl about Mama Ayo Ola and she directed me to knock on the next door.
“ An Igbo man peeped from the door and said Mama Ayo was not living there. And as I was about going out, the mob pounced on me, searched my bags and found the hundred keys with the weaveon. They later handed me over to the policemen at Alade Divisional headquarters.”
She then pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Magistrate, Justice  E.A. Adekomaya, granted Akilapa bail in the sum of N14, 000 with two sureties given that they are tax payers and must own a landed property in Lagos.
The case was adjourned till March 12, 2013.
YNaija.com

“Remove the idiot from the room” – What suspects told receptionist after killing Cynthia Osokogu

By Bisola Adeniran

Trial of the four men who allegedly murdered Cynthia Osokogu, a Nasarawa born lady they met through the social network, facebook commenced yesterday after they were arraigned before an Ikeja High Court for murder.
Okwumo Nwabufo, Ezike Olisaeloka, Orji Osita and Ezike Nonso are facing a six-count charge of conspiracy, murder, stealing and negligence before Justice Olabisi Akinlade.
At the resumed trial, the prosecution team led by the state Attorney-General, Mr Ade Ipaye presented their first witness, Mrs Ifenyinwa Njegbu, a receptionist at the hotel where Cynthia was allegedly killed who told the court how the first two defendants, who brought the lady to the hotel bolted after killing her, under the pretence that they want to withdraw money from ATM.
Before the commencement of the trial, the six-count charge were read to them and they all pleaded not guilty.
Okwumo Echezona Nwabufo (right) and Ezike Ilechukwu Olisaeloka, suspected murderers of Late Miss Cynthia Osokogu Udoka covering their faces at the Yaba Magistrate Court, Lagos. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.
The state alleged that two of the defendants Okwumo and Ezike on or about 22 July, 2012 at Cosmilla Hotel, Amuwo-Odofin, Festac Town, conspired to murder Cynthia Osokogu.
The state also alleged that the defendants murdered Cynthia by administering Rohypnol Flunitrazepan tablet into her drink, chained her hands and legs and strangled her to death.
The duo were also alleged to have stolen three blackberry phones valued at N150,000, Jewelries, an international passport and a drivers licence belonging to Cynthia after they strangled her to death.
Orji Osita, the third suspect was charged for negligently selling the Rohypnol Flunitrazepan tablets to Ezike, the second defendant without a doctors prescription and without showing due care.
Ezike Nonso, the man who allegedly bought Cynthia’s stolen blackberry Bold 5 was charged for being in possession of a stolen phone.
In her evidence, Mrs Njegbu told the court that while on duty on Saturday 21, July 2012, she checked in two guests, a man and a woman who claimed to be couples into room C1 of the hotel at about 12am.
She disclosed that at about 8am while she was preparing to hand over to one of her colleagues, Vivian Amule, the couple informed her through phone that they were checking out.
”After I had handed over to my colleague, I asked her to check out the couple since they had told me that they were leaving that morning.”
Njegbu noted that when she resumed duty the next day,she was briefed that the couple had left and that a brother of the man had taken over the room because the room was not going to expire until 12pm of July 22, 2012. So she noted that the brother of the man who had booked the room, was still occupying the room.
She said while sitting at the reception, a man in brown long sleeve shirt went straight into the bar with a brown bag and he was drinking, when asked to describe the person she saw, she described the second defendant as dark in complexion, tall, young and also identified him as the second person in the dock on a pink Polo T shirt.

According to her, she asked the first defendant if he lodged in the hotel and he said yes and that she had earlier called his room and but said he was staying but will only went out to made a withdrawal at the ATM machine to pay for the next day, adding that his his girl friend was still up stairs with the key. She said she responded by informing him to come back before 12noon, when their rent will expire.
She told the court that after sometime she saw a man who is fair in complexion that wore a dark sun glasses coming down from the upstairs towards her, where the second defendant (Ezike Eloka) in the bar met with the first defendant (Nwabufor Okwumo) at the reception and they went out together before she stopped him, because it is the normal thing to do, especially when the person did not officially lodged in the hotel.
The witness, said they didn’t show up until around 3pm, when someone called the intercom phone of the hotel and identified himself as the occupant of room C1, revealing that he is not going to return to the hotel, saying “ you people should remove the Idiot from the room.”
Nejgbu said she replied that sir “but you promised to come back and pay for the room”, the only thing he did was to drop the phone.
”Immediately I called the manager and explained what had happened. So he told me that if he doesn’t come back the girl will pay for the C1 room, so he told me to call the room through the company’s intercom phone and I called but there was no response, “
”The manager, Mr Victor went up stairs and said he knocked at the door and there was no response, so he told me to take the master key since am a lady like her that I should go and open the door, so I went up stairs to the room and knocked severally and there was no response. So I used the master key to open the door and I met the deceased Cynthia naked on the bed, with one of her legs touching the ground in room C1 and I was shocked and shouted Jesus.”
She added that she rushed down to inform the manager, who went upstair to identify the corpse.
She added that the next thing was that she saw police men who called all of them on duty to identify those they saw through the CCtv in the hotel.
She further said that she was able to identify the first and second defendant and the police took them to “Area E” police station where their statements were taken.
She said two weeks later someone called the hotel and asked for the details of Cynthia the deceased if she lodged in the hotel, identifying himself as the deceased’s brother.
However, she responded that it wansnt in the practice of the hotel to disclose details of their customers.
Shortly after the trial, counsel to the third and fourth defendants, Orji Osita and Ezike Nonso, the pharmacist and the man who bought Cynthia phone respectively applied for their bail.
Ruling on the bail, Justice Akinlade ordered that third defendant should continue with the N1million bail granted him at the lower court.
The Judge also granted the fourth defendant bail in the sum of N2million with two sureties.
She ordered that one of the sureties must be a grade level 14 civil servant resident in Lagos with proof of three years tax payment.
 DailyPost

“I can’t wait!” – Kim Kardashian confirms she is coming here, Nigeria

by Akan Ido

Reality TV queen, Kim Kardashian confirms on Twitter, that she’s coming to Nigeria for Darey’s Valentine’s Concert [Details below].
See below our report on the event:
There are indications that one of the world’s biggest TV personalities and famous reality TV star, Kim Kardashian, will make her debut in Nigeria next weekend. The star of ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ has been confirmed as special co-host, for ‘Love… Like A Movie’, the eagerly anticipated valentine concert by Darey’s Soul Muzik, according to an announcement by BlackHouse Media, publicists to Darey.

Kim will join Nigerian superstars 2face Idibia, Flavour, Ice Prince, Iyanya, and Darey to deliver what will undoubtedly be the valentine concert of the year.
Other hit-makers like Timi Dakolo, Waje, 9ice, Praiz and Naeto C are also billed for the concert, as well as South Africa’s Jozi. Love… Like A Movie will hold at The Convention Centre of Eko Hotel and Suites on Sunday February 17.
Tickets to the show available on afritickets.com 
YNaija.com

Fela Almost Spanked Me For Snatching Igbo From Him – Yeni Kuti

Yeni, daughter of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, tells us about her father, siblings and  growing up.

The annual show you conceived, Felabration, is  getting more recognition than when it started years ago…

The committee of Felebration is mostly family and friends. The friends are the genuine fans of Fela. We are all dedicated and we put in our all. We put in our money. The person who decorates the stage does that because of the love for Fela. Felabration is getting bigger than the dream I had.  It is getting much more powerful. We did envisage that it would be big.  The show is not about me. It is not about the Kutis. It is a Nigerian and even an African thing. Felabration was my idea but I called in friends because I knew I couldn’t do it alone. But now, it has grown so big. People have already started calling me to perform at the show. Most Nigerian artistes still see Fela as their father. They perform at Felabration for free. We can’t even afford to pay them but they still come. We have had KSA here. He didn’t ask for a dime and he enjoyed himself. The biggest Nigerian artistes have played here and they don’t ask for anything. But I would even love a situation where we could even start paying artistes. We may not afford their normal performance fee, but at least, we could be able to give them even if it is N1m, as a thank you fee for the support they have been giving us.

Do you still miss your father?

I miss him a lot, especially when things happen and I want to talk to him about those things. I remember when we were opening the museum, I had to go to his room and sort out his clothes. It was a very emotional time for me.

Even with the fact that he married so many other wives apart from your mother, you still love him…

We were very close. Remember I was his first child and first daughter. He didn’t have so many kids. We were just seven.  Most of the other kids came much later after me, Femi and Sola who came from the same mother. The three of us are even close in our ages. The next sibling is like 10 or 11 years younger than I am. We are much older than the rest so the three of us had time to bond. Looking at his marriage now from an older person’s perspective, I can imagine what my mum went through. But back then, to me it was exciting that my father was marrying so many wives.

Are there times you wished you were not a Kuti, given the fact that your father was surrounded by a lot of controversies?

Never! I am proud of my heritage. I am proud of my name. I am proud of the legacy of my family. We are now talking to Ogun State Government. They want to establish a museum on the Kuti family and not just on Fela. The only fly in the ointment for me is when I ask myself if I would be able to achieve what the Kutis have achieved. Will I be able to live up to this legacy? My grandfather, my father, my uncles, they were all strong people. I am already 52, so I have this fear that I might not be able to meet up.

How come the museum in Lagos State is not functional yet?

We are still looking for sponsors to finish it fully. Lagos State Government gave us part of the money. We are talking to other sponsors. We are not fully operational. We just opened it for people to go there and look around. We are not charging money right now. We need a lot of funds to open the souvenir shops. The museum is a lovely place. I am so proud of it.

How would one describe you- a singer, dancer or just Fela’s daughter?

I am Fela’s daughter, but I hate it when people introduce me as Fela’s daughter. If you just introduce me as such, then it means I haven’t really done anything in life. So my claim to fame is just that I am Fela’s child. Is that an achievement?  I don’t really like it when I am introduced as that. In fact, I don’t just know how anybody should introduce me. Just call me Yeni Kuti. I have danced, I have choreographed, and I have performed. I no longer dance on stage anymore anyway.

So you never sang?

I was just a back-up singer.

Was it by choice that you never became a singer?

Yes. I don’t like my voice.

How was it like growing up with a father that everybody knew?

That is what I find most fascinating. I will never forget when my father died. When we laid him in state and people were coming to see his corpse, I saw a lot of children coming with their mothers to see Fela’s corpse. I didn’t want that. I tried to stop them. One woman almost fought me when I tried to stop her kid from seeing Fela’s body. I apologised to her and I left them.  I eventually understood that Fela was not for us alone. He wasn’t just for Nigerians but for Africans. Lagos State didn’t do a disservice to Nigerians by giving them a Fela museum.

How come you don’t perm your hair

This is really my natural hair. I now wear a scarf to cover the roots in front because they have turned grey. My father didn’t approve of us to perm our hair. You wouldn’t want to perm your hair and get into trouble. I had to develop a style I was comfortable with. I learnt how to style my hair on my own. I remember when my father died, I wanted to perm my hair but then again, I felt it would have been an abuse of his memory, so I didn’t do it again. I don’t relax my hair but I touch it up a little to strengthen it. I don’t wear hair extensions. I don’t wear artificial nails. My nails are no longer growing because of my age. I don’t wear fake stuff. The make-up I wear is enough ‘fake’ for me.

Do you think your father would be proud of you wherever he is?

I am sure he would be proud of me. He was proud of us before he died. He came to watch our shows before he died. He was proud of my brother, Femi. He knew we were hardworking. I think it was our choreography that made him to start teaching his dancers choreography himself. He was using an outside choreographer but towards the end of his life, he started doing it himself and I am sure it was our choreography that inspired him. He must have seen how we were doing it. There was a time I wanted to be his choreographer, but the politics with his wives was too much and I didn’t bother again.

Did your father’s name make you so arrogant when you were growing up?

No way! We were even bullied. You know that my father didn’t have money when we were growing up. We stayed at home a lot because our father couldn’t afford to pay our school fees. In those days, artistes didn’t have money; they lived from hand to mouth. And then, Fela wasn’t playing popular songs. We couldn’t afford to go to school all the time. I remember in school then, we were so much bullied by other kids. They used to laugh at us that our father didn’t have money. We used to cry a lot then. But it worked in our favour. That was why Femi, Sola and I became very close. We only had ourselves. We stuck together. It was us against the rest of the world.

Did it continue even when you got to secondary school?

It even got worse. My father had money then but he was in and out of trouble. He would be in jail today, tomorrow police would come and raid the house. It was very bad. I remember when he would be going for judgment for his ‘igbo’ case. I would be praying all day in school so that my father would not be jailed. People kind of liked us when we were in secondary school. I had a lot of school daughters probably because of my father’s name but it didn’t make me proud. I remember the first time my father was locked up. I saw him behind bars and I started crying. He was telling me to stop crying. He was even excited that he was in jail.

So there were times your father’s name worked against you?

Oh yes. We were bullied and then loved and then it got to a stage where our friends’ parents didn’t want us to associate with their kids. I will never forget one of Femi’s girlfriends. He liked her and she too liked him. But her father found out and warned his daughter severely that he didn’t want to see Fela’s son in his house. When Fela married 27 wives, I remember these three half-caste children. I had a boyfriend who was dating one of these half-caste children as well. The half caste kids were so mean to us then. They would see us and mock us, that our father couldn’t afford to buy good clothes for us; all he knew was to go and marry 27 wives. It hurt us so bad. Then again, I got victimised by the police.

Really?

Oh yes. There was this guy back then that took me to a Japanese restaurant. The food was even horrible. After the dinner, he said he couldn’t take me home. I was living at Somolu then. He took me to a taxi park and I took a cab to the house. I got home and I told everybody about the date and that I was taken to a Japanese restaurant for the first time in my life. I went to work the following day. The guy came to the office that morning and said he just wanted to see me. I saw him off and just a few minutes later, two men walked into the office and said they were looking for Yeni. I told them my name was Yeni. They said I was the one they were looking for and that they were arresting me for armed robbery.

Why?

I still do not understand. That was how they took me to Panti police station. Apparently, after the guy dropped me off that night, robbers visited him in his house. Policemen asked him the names of the people he saw earlier that night and he mentioned my name among others. And just because I was Fela’s daughter, they said I was the armed robber. My colleagues had to call my mother and also my father, which was a big mistake.

Why do you say so?

When my father got to the station, the story changed. He was already very unpopular with the police. Fela used the opportunity to call a press conference and said that his daughter was being victimised because of him. It was awful. I cried all day. I was put behind the counter. Eventually, they brought me out that day. But my point is that it was so unfair. There was nothing to tie me to a crime, but just because I was Fela’s daughter, I was arrested. But now, it is a totally different transition. Being Fela’s daughter, being a Kuti is a thing of pride. People want to be associated with the name. I have been through so many transitions in all these 52 years of my life. Now, we have gained acceptance.

Don’t you feel perturbed regarding the stigma that is associated with the African Shrine as a place for hoodlums and igbo smokers?

There is no way we are going to give this place another name out of the moon. This is African Shrine and it is our heritage. People have just labelled this place as a place where hoodlums stay and smoke igbo.’Foreigners come into the country and wish to come to The Shrine but our people tell them that this place is very dangerous. The allegation is so baseless. Has anybody come here and experienced any armed robbery attack? For the ‘igbo’, we have tried to eradicate it. We don’t allow it to be sold inside the shrine. We even work with National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Do you encourage igbo smokers?

Smoking igbo is just like a legacy that my father left behind. He didn’t deny the fact that he smoked and he even smoked it openly. I know that smoking ‘igbo’ doesn’t make you a bad person. My father smoked it and he wasn’t a bad person.

Do you smoke ‘igbo’?

No, I don’t. I don’t know how it happened, but most of my staff don’t smoke. I can categorically say that 95 per cent of the members of my staff do not smoke igbo. I would leave the rest five per cent for some who may be hiding it or who would even want to experiment. I don’t know how it happened that way, because when they came for the job, I didn’t ask if they smoke igbo or not. People even find it strange when you go to Femi’s show and none of the musician is smoking igbo.  I still don’t judge people that smoke in a negative way because I don’t have anything against it. My father smoked it and he achieved so many things more than the people who don’t smoke it.

Did you ever try stopping your father from smoking igbo?

Oh yes. When we were growing up, my father didn’t smoke cigarette, let alone ‘igbo’. He didn’t drink either. It was my mother who smoked cigarettes. But he went to America and by the time he came back, he was smoking. I didn’t know at first. Eventually, he became free with it and started smoking it openly. Our friends then used to say that people who smoke would go to hell. We were against smokers. I would feel so bad because I would say my father would go to hell. But I didn’t know how to tell him to quit smoking. One day, I came home with one of my friends from school and I was praying my father wouldn’t be holding a ‘joint’. We got home and indeed, Fela was holding his ‘joint’. I took it from him. God! You need to see the kind of warning he gave me.  He almost beat the living daylight out of me.  He screamed! He asked me how I dared remove his igbo from his hand. He asked me if I was alright. That was the first and last time I tried stopping him from smoking. That warning was enough to teach me to mind my own business and which I did.

Would you have wished your marriage didn’t have a problem?

I don’t dwell on regrets. To regret anything will take you back instead of forward. You will not be able to live to your full capacity. If something happens to me, I don’t bother dwelling on it. I will not look at my marriage now and say that I regret that it didn’t work out. We are still friends. How can I regret when I have a beautiful child that came out of the marriage? I am proud of my daughter. She works in England. I am a happy person.

At 52, do we see you getting married again?

I don’t really talk about my personal life. I am in a relationship and I am very happy in it. We are not discussing marriage and we have decided that we are very happy. Why would we want to spoil what we have? I am okay with my life the way it is.

What do you hope to achieve in future?

I want to be very comfortable. I don’t want to be as rich as the Nigerian criminals who steal millions and billions. I don’t need more than I actually need to be comfortable. A lot of people are greedy. I am not greedy. I am hoping to be recognised for my dancing abilities in the next five years. I will keep dancing unless my body cannot carry it again. I may not be dancing on the stage again. Dancing will keep me trim. I hope the Shrine will be the ‘Mecca’ of African music in future.

Naij