As the controversy over who is bigger between the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and afrobeats star Wizkid lingers, former senator Babafemi Ojudu has described Fela as a revolution in human form.
This is as he criticised comparisons between younger musicians and Fela Kuti, saying the late Afrobeat icon’s life and work remain unmatched.
Ojudu’s comments came amid the ongoing feud between Wizkid and Seun Kuti, Fela’s son.
Ojudu, on Facebook, described Fela as a movement, a revolution, and a conscience who stood fearlessly against military dictatorships.
He noted that Fela’s legacy includes over 200 arrests, imprisonment, torture, and exile for fighting injustice.
According to him, Fela’s music birthed Afrobeat, a genre now studied globally, and his impact on music and activism is still felt.
Ojudu added that the comparisons with younger artists are misguided, emphasising Fela’s unique contributions to music and society.
“Is it true that a Nigerian youngster said he is greater than Fela? I sincerely hope he was misquoted. Even if he were to live ten lifetimes, his art and his life could not measure up to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Is it in art? Is it in music? Is it in activism, courage, or originality?
“Fela was not just a musician; he was a movement, a conscience, a revolution in human form. His music gave birth to Afrobeat, a genre now studied in universities across the world, sampled by global superstars, and performed on the world’s greatest stages. From Lagos to London, New York to Berlin, Fela’s sound reshaped global music and African identity.
“Fela stood alone—fearless in the face of military dictatorships, unapologetic in his resistance to oppression. He used his music as a weapon against injustice, corruption, colonial mentality, and state violence. For this, he was arrested over 200 times, brutalized, imprisoned, tortured, exiled, and silenced—yet never broken.
“For any young person—musician or not—to compare himself to Fela, he must first walk the corridors of Nigerian jailhouses: Lagos, Maiduguri, Benin. He must endure police cells and military tribunals. He must lose everything, go into exile, and still return with his creative spirit intact.
“Fela was a multi-instrumentalist, a composer, bandleader, philosopher, and cultural theorist. He could play virtually every instrument in his band, wrote complex compositions lasting 15 to 30 minutes, and fused jazz, highlife, funk, Yoruba rhythms, and political poetry into something entirely original—something timeless”, he wrote in part.
The feud started when Wizkid claimed to be a greater artist than Fela, after a trigger from Seun Kuti, who attacked his fans.
