Who I won’t criticise Burna Boy – Seun Kuti

Musician son of the legendary Afrobeats maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Seun, was recently believed to have taken a dig at singer, Burna Boy, after the latter declared that no artiste paved the way for him.

Interestingly, in his latest interview, Kuti said it was wrong to accuse him of criticising his colleague.

He said, “I didn’t disagree with Burna Boy. Why would I disagree with someone about his own life? That would be wrong. I don’t want people to misinterpret what I wrote independently. I am not personal with my issues. African music has always been a large family for me.”

“So, it is impossible for me not to pay homage to many great African artistes, especially when many of them have impacted our lives directly. It is a form of disrespect when someone makes a blanket statement and people try to attach it to one person.

“We are Africans and we are respectful people. Unlike politics, our musical ancestry has been very loyal and patriotic and we also give them that loyalty and respect. For me, I really respect the African music ancestry, so I wouldn’t criticise Burna Boy.”

The Grammy Awards nominee also noted that the coronavirus pandemic had exposed the failings of the country’s healthcare system. He added, “There are microbiologists and epidemiologists that graduated from our universities. Those are the people that should be speaking up now but because Nigeria did not give them the opportunity to fulfill their potentials, many of them are now fashion designers, shoemakers and chefs.”

In a country without the right ratio of doctors to citizens, it goes without saying that the healthcare system is overwhelmed. The elite are going to be exposed for the hypocrites that they are. So far, nobody has donated the equivalent of the cost of a private jet to Nigeria (to fight the pandemic). Meanwhile, they have made billions off Nigerians. Every Nigerian billionaire is a product of Nigeria’s commonwealth. There is nothing special they have added to us. (Rather), we are the ones that have made their lives better; yet, at a time like this, you would see them donating what I consider to be stipends.

“So, they cannot invest the cost of one private jet in our lives? Since 1999 that this new democratic dispensation has been creating new billionaires, how many of them have come together to create even one good hospital? And since the coronavirus pandemic started, how many of them have come up with long-term solutions? Meanwhile, these same people donate billions to political parties during elections.”

“We all need to wake up and to try to make government find a way out of this because the solution is not just sharing hand sanitisers. There are many African people that do not have access to clean water and without water at all. There is no proper sanitation. Without water, we cannot talk about hygiene.”