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 s***m watery. He was always drinking African
medicine there, and that was what neutralized his
s***m. 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.
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