In an Instagram video message, Seun Kuti, the Grammy-nominated singer and son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, shared an interesting detail about his late father.
According to Seun, Fela used to dispatch his personal assistant to London to purchase ice cream and his favorite sweets for him.
Seun Kuti also took this opportunity to educate his fans, emphasizing that being a pan-Africanist does not require one to endure unnecessary hardships.
Kuti said, “Anyone that tells you that to be a pan-Africanist is to suffer, is a liar. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, is Fela also a liar? Do you enjoy more than Fela?
“Fela used to send his PA to London to buy ice cream and his favorite sweet for him. The PA would leave Lagos 10am and arrive in London 3pm.
“He had to go to Bond Street to buy Fela’s favorite sweet. The name of the PA was Femi Bankole Osula but we called him ‘Femi Photo’ because he was also Fela’s photographer.
“He would arrive in Lagos the next morning with the sweet and ice cream. Does that mean Fela is not a pan-Africanist because he likes to lick ice cream?
“You must not enjoy the sweet creams of this life, is that your idea of pan-Africanist? ‘I’m not African because I was born in Africa, I’m African because Africa was born in me.’ It means that for those little pressures that you want to get, you must never betray or sabotage your own people. I will never destroy Africa just because I want luxury.”
