| 7 years after Fela’s
death: Why mum loved Fela, by Dolupo
By SOLA BALOGUN
Monday, August 2, 2004
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• Dolupo
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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While many people may have wondered why the late Afrobeat
legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was his late mother’s favourite
child when both were alive, Fela’s elder sister, Lady
Dolupo has given reasons, noting that Fela actually inherited
their late mother’s name, courage and rare sense of
radicalism.
According to Lady Dolupo who spoke to Daily Sun at her late
father’s house in Abeokuta, the activism that was spearheaded
by women during the colonial era was actually influenced by
the courage and vision of people like the late Mrs Funmilayo
Ransome-Kuti and Mrs Margaret Ekpo.
Lady Dolupo recalled that their late mother was known and
called Fela and that at the time of Fela’s birth, the
mother demonstrated her special love to her child by naming
the boy after herself. Said Dolupo: “ Many people don’t
know the genesis of Fela’s closeness to our mother.
My mother was actually called Fela and so when she named this
boy Fela, all of us (she is the eldest child) knew why.”
As a result of this, Fela grew up to love his mother and by
the time he became an adult, the mother too started living
with him. Explained Dolupo; “Fela and my mother were
very close and no one dared show any jealousy about that.
In fact, my mother lived with him till she died and she had
always been a pillar of support for his (Fela’s) activism.
Each time Fela was incarcerated, mother was always there to
lend her hands of support and she never in any way showed
regrets towards Fela’s actions.”
In the same vein, Lady Dolupo disclosed that Fela and his
younger brother, Beko were very close till the former’s
death in 1997. The two of them shared the same vision and
love for a better Nigeria but that successive governments
always threatened them. Besides, all children of the late
Reverend and Mrs. Ransome-Kuti had a disciplined background
as they were all brought up in a strict Christian family with
a strong desire for quality education. “ We all had
disciplined parents who were also highly educated. They imparted
the same virtues into us and we had no reason not to be obedient.”
On the seventh anniversary of Fela’s death, Dolupo said
the entire country should celebrate him and that government
should identify with his vision and legacy. “This is
because Fela remains a philosopher, visionary and a rare prophet
who had predicted all that is now happening. Above all, the
Afrobeat legend was a genius, thinker and a true defender
of the masses.”
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