Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti has claimed that his father, Fela Kuti, was falsely accused of armed robbery during the military dictatorship of Muhammadu Buhari by the late MKO Abiola and his wife, Simbiat.
Seun Kuti said that the plot was part of a scheme to have Fela put to death in accordance with the severe anti-armed robbery legislation of the dictatorship.
Seun Kuti described how the Abiolas concocted a tale, saying that Simbiat’s Ferrari was taken at gunpoint by Fela and his cronies.
At the time of this accusation, Tunde Idiagbon, Buhari’s deputy head of state, was implementing stringent legislation that declared armed robbery a capital crime with a death sentence.
In his words;
“Abiola and his wife, Simbiat, lied against Fela that he and his boys robbed her of her Ferrari at gunpoint under Idiagbon’s regime. This was Abiola and his wife’s plan to kill my dad because, under Idiagbon, armed robbery was punishable by death.
“Abiola and Simbiat wrote a statement at a police station that they saw Fela and his gang rob her at gunpoint. This led to Fela’s arrest which is punishable by death, but luckily for Fela, he was performing in Cameroon the very day Simbiat was lying about the theft. Fela escaped the case because he can’t be in two places at the same time; its either he’s on a stage in Cameroon or robbing in Lagos.
“Responding, Fela and my elder brother, Femi, took 12 buckets of faeces go and listen to his song – give me shit, I give you shit – then you will have a better understanding. They took it to Abiola’s house in the middle of the night and smeared his compound.
“The next day, the police visited my father’s house saying they came to investigate the shit-show in Abiola’s house the previous day. But Fela denied the act saying if given the opportunity, he would smear Abiola’s house with faeces.”
