Fela and the APC

It is another Friday and I am thinking of Fela and the All Progressives Congress (APC). It is a thinking that appears to be off-grid. This is because, thinking about Fela on a Friday generates a reaction far removed from the APC and other related variables.

Indeed, Friday comes with a slowing down of the week’s tempo. And for music buffs, it could well be another day to begin to soak in the music of the one and only abami eda, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. So, how do we in fact relate all of the foregoing to the APC.

The relationship lies in the fact that Fela is not a flat character. He is so rounded that there are so many sides to him. Hence, there is Fela the politician, Fela the spiritualist, and of course Fela the implacable critic of bad governance. Indeed, we can go on. In view of much of the foregoing, the placing of Fela’s name beside that of the party, All Progressives Congress (APC) becomes clearer and understandable. However, what has inspired this piece is a news story in one of the newspapers. As the rendition goes, Fela’s son in a press statement has repudiated any connection between the Fela family, Fela himself and the APC. According to him, the family is not into partisan politics, in Nigeria and beyond, and specifically, it has not endorsed the APC in any way.

What apparently triggered Femi’s anger was the sight of APC members wearing t-shirts adorned with Fela, and captions, which speak to spirituality in the inclusive sense. At one level, one can understand and even sympathize with Femi on the issue. This is because those who put out those t-shirts must be commended, if only in a perverse way.

The unwary member of the public on seeing those shirts could well begin to draw an organic linkage between Fela, the legend and APC. And this means a lot in these times. For these are times when the average citizen is weary, harried and pummelled by not just the pandemic, but also by the dismal consequences of broken promises, which to some extent characterize APC rule.

For those who are familiar with the content of Fela’s message, it is clear that any political party which hitches on to Fela’s name at this point in time, could well be making a good play for the hearts and minds of the populace. On this note, one only has to remember some of those public-spirited lyrics, which spoke to malgovernance and brutalisation in contemporary Nigeria. Fela must be allowed to speak for himself here….

Wetin be Fela do, this government is bad o, people start to talk o, Fela talk about government, wasting money on FESTAC; Fela talk about government flogging civilians for street.

Again he blasts out thus: Government magic, Government magic, they turn electric to candle, dem turn electric to candle, dem turn electric to candle.

Even then, especially as regards the APC shirt under discussion, Fela has also spoken to aspects of his spirituality when he crows thus: Imam de gbaladun, Archbishop dey for London, Pope na enjoyment, Imam dey for Mecca. My people dem dey follow Bishop, follow Imam.

The immediate foregoing, speaks in a profound way to these times. Since one of the major issues on the streets has to do with religion, which in a way constitutes a tragic divide in Nigeria today. So the imaginative APC with its t-shirts was also trying to buy into the agnostic and irreverent dynamics which Fela embodied in his music.

Potentially, this is some kind of boon and even boom for the APC. Here is a party in power, seeking to use Fela as a bridge to the ruled. Of course, Femi is able to see through this ruse. As the head of the family, he has since disrupted the linkage between APC and Fela. But there is a problem. The problem revolves around the fact that the harm may have been done already. The horses so to say have fled the stable. This is because the t-shirts are already out there mingling with the masses and passing on the implicit and explicit messages that APC has an empathy with the masses on Fela’s platform.

For let us face it, how many people will ultimately see the repudiation and disclaimer by Femi. Unwittingly perhaps, the entire issue has thrown up another critical variable, which was probably not lost on Femi and the rest of us. The point here is that Fela is not just a musician, he is also a Brand. A brand, which is well known for its stance against the Establishment. But more seriously speaking, what do you do with a brand, if you don’t want it to be pilfered or violated as happened in the instant case. You register it, get a copyright on it. What Femi has done is really innocuous. For nothing, absolutely nothing stops, say the PDP from similarly latching on to the Fela brand tomorrow.

So, Femi, get going! You may have to throw the books at this political party. The lawyers are best placed to advise you on how to guard against a future violation of Fela as a brand. Meanwhile, dear reader, enjoy yourself as you soak in Fela’s music on this Friday. Make sure it is not the pirated version however. Else, the copyright lawyers will be knocking at your doors too.

Professor Soremekun is the chairman, Editorial Board of BusinessDay Newspaper