One of the wives of the late Afrobeat legend, Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti, Laide Anikulapo-Kuti, Nee Babayale, has
revealed some shocking details about the late legend.
Though the interview was months back, I found it now and
it’s so revealing. If you haven’t read it before, read it now.
It was actually a video interview with Trumpet Media
Group, but you can read the transcribed version after the
cut.
How did you meet Fela?
I met Fela at a Sunday Jump in 1974. The shrine was
opposite my house and some of my friends were selling
things in front of the place, and we were just there doing
our own thing, while Baba was inside doing his own thing
as usual. It was the boys that made us know him well.
They came to buy cigarettes from my friends, and wanted
to take candy sweets for free, and I was a kind of person
that would never allow anybody take me or the people
around me for a ride. I protested, and the next thing I
knew, was that a hot slap landed on the cheek of my friend
selling the goods, and that’s how we started fighting, that
Fela had to come out. We narrated what happened to him,
so Fela took the boy that slapped my friend inside and
punished him. After that, Fela sent one of his drivers to me
that if I’m chanced, I should come and see him.
Initially, I didn’t want to go in, because my people must
not see me in that kind of environment. I was 16 years old
as at then but I had a big stature. When I got in, Fela said I
should follow any of the cars to his house, but I didn’t go.
That was how I knew Fela liked me, and I liked him too, so
every Sunday jump, I was always going there, well-
dressed. Whenever he was going in, he always looked in
our direction. However, to cut the long story short, we
eventually began dating.
What was your parent’s reaction when they knew
you were in Kalakuta?
It was a tug-of war. My father never wanted it, because he
thought people who were around Fela were hooligans, but
it was a lie. Anybody who was a hooligan then was either a
passer-by, or just a shrine-goer, and not part of Fela’s
inner caucus, because Fela never wanted trouble from any
of his people. Fela fought with his music, but when people
heard the lyrics of his songs, they thought he was a
hooligan, which he was not. I was actually on break from
school for two weeks when I decided to go and spend
some time with Fela, but when I got there, I really enjoyed
myself and didn’t want to go back to school again though I
was in Form Four then. My parents went looking for me in
school, but the Reverend mothers and sisters there then
said they didn’t know my whereabouts even though all my
properties were still in the hostel. They began searching
everywhere, but they never thought I could be in Fela’s
place. It was actually Fela’s friend, who happened to be my
in-law, Uncle Tayo Mott, that informed my parents that I
was with Fela. He was a very close friend to Fela and was
also his DJ.
What were the actions your father took?
He was always coming to harass us wherever we went. He
would send boys from Shitta, Surulere, to bundle me up
wherever I was, and they would carry me. My father was a
prominent, well-known and outgoing person, so he knew
people like King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, and IK Dairo
very well, so he begged the three of them to go and plead
with Fela to release his daughter. On that fateful day when
they came, I was in Fela’s room, and we had just finished
doing our ‘thing.’ When Fela was informed that the three
men were there to see him, he went out, and later sent for
me that I should dress up and come out. When I went out,
he sat me down, and asked me if I knew the three men,
and I replied in the affirmative. He asked me if I knew why
they were there, and I replied that I didn’t, so he told me
they were there because of me. I said why, and asked
them if they knew me, but Fela calmed me down, that they
were sent by my father to beg me to come back home. I
then told them that there was nothing happening there
that they didn’t know about because they were also in the
music industry. I told them I was enjoying Fela’s music and
didn’t want to go home.
Can you recollect what happened when Kalakuta
Republic was invaded?
It started like a joke, but quickly escalated into war. Some
traffic police officers ‘Yellow Fever’ came and said they
wanted to see the person who drove a Range Rover that
was in the compound because it had even numbers on its
license plate, even though it was odd numbers. The
gateman then told them that he was not in the best
position to answer them, because as someone that wasn’t
learned, he didn’t know the difference between odd and
even numbers. The gateman then went inside to inform
Fela, and he told them that he wasn’t coming out. The
Yellow Fever officers then went and came back with some
soldiers because we were very near Abati Barracks then.
When Fela was informed that there were soldiers outside,
he first went into his mother’s room, because he never
went out without seeing her. Beko was already in the clinic
then, but when he saw what was going on, he also came
into mama’s room. Before we knew what was happening,
the whole thing degenerated into chaos.
How did the issue of the mass marriage come about?
When Kalakuta Republic was invaded and we all had
different injuries, mine was on my navel, and all the other
women making jest of me that I would never have a baby,
even though I was just about 20 years old then. I really
wanted to have children because of the special treatment
Fela gave his children. I then decided to look outside
because Fela didn’t want to have any more children then.
He went to one Baba JK in Idi Oro in Mushin to make his
sperm watery. He was always drinking African medicine
there, and that was what neutralized his sperm. So many
women were always getting pregnant for him that he was
terminating about six different pregnancies per day. It was
Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti that used to terminate it then.
They’re all dead now; me too, I’m going to die one day, but
it’s always good to put things right for the records. There
was another girl then who I was close with, Adunni, so I
told her that we should look for people who we would have
children for. She had a baby for a taxi driver, while I had
my baby for a journalist, Steve, with Punch Newspapers.
He usually reported whatever activity Fela was involved in
all round the world. He was the kind of person I needed at
that time. There was a time we were in Ghana in Hotel
Presidential, and that was the time I went in with him.
Shortly after that, I started experiencing morning sickness,
and when it was confirmed that I was pregnant, I was very
happy.
Soon after that, Fela called me to go in with him, and I told
him that I was pregnant. He said, ‘What’ and I repeated it.
He came from the third floor to the first floor to Mama’s
room, and he told her, Maami, you know what, Laide is
pregnant.’ Mama asked him who was responsible, and he
told her he was the one to cover me up. Mama then said
‘Fine’ because she knew Fela liked me and I liked Fela.
Mama never knew that I had intercourse with Steve, even
though his room was directly opposite mama’s own in
Ghana. This is a true life story. I want you to bring it out
and let people know.
After that time, Fela now called Steve and the press that
‘these women have suffered a lot with me, so if anyone of
them wants, they can marry me and be having children.’
Steve said if that was what he wanted, then, no problem.
So Fela put out a notebook and said that the people who
want to marry him out of all the women in the shrine
should put their names down. In all, we were 27 that wrote
our names, and Fela told the rest that if they didn’t write
their names, he wouldn’t sleep with them.
On the day of the wedding ceremony, Fela’s best pal, Tunji
Braithwaite, who was supposed to join us together, ran
away from his chambers, saying that he had never seen
such a thing before for a man to marry 27 women at the
same time. He had thought it was a joke when Fela told
him earlier. The following day, Fela called an Ifa priest and
they came to join us together at Hotel Parisona in Anthony,
Lagos. Fela put money on everybody’s heads and we
collected our certificates of marriage to him.
Can you describe how it felt like being with him?
Fela was a true living legend. He was the one and only
man that God put in our midst, but people never knew his
worth until he was gone. Fela was always chewing music in
his mouth whatever he was doing. Whether he was eating,
driving, or with a woman in the room, he was always
chewing music in his mouth with his pen and paper with
him always. He was very good at writing in short-hand; in
fact he was good at everything you can ever think of. There
was nothing he did wrong; except you didn’t know him. He
was a messiah; if we had given him a chance, Nigeria
would have changed, but people like Obasanjo never gave
him a chance.
Whenever Fela wanted to make music, he sang about the
things around him.
Talking about bedroom matters, how did Fela rotate
between his numerous wives?
Fela always called his wives based on how he enjoyed
them; if he did not enjoy you, he would not call you. Even
after the marriage, it continued like that.