Yeni Kuti, the daughter of the legendary afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, recently disclosed in an interview that her uncle, Dr. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, made the decision to publicly announce that her father had died of AIDS. Yeni explained that after much persuasion from other family members, they eventually agreed to let their uncle make the announcement. Yeni expressed that initially, she didn't believe it was the best decision, as they still hoped Fela would survive. However, looking back, she acknowledged that her uncle's choice definitively put to rest any speculation surrounding the cause of Fela's death. Yeni shared this revelation during a conversation with media personality Chude Jideonwo. She mentioned that the family had a disagreement with her uncle when he proposed making the announcement, but eventually, they reluctantly agreed. Yeni expressed gratitude for her uncle's decision, stating that it prevented ongoing speculation about Fela's cause of death. The interview also included a video clip of Yeni discussing the matter.
In her words;
“Then, I didn’t think the decision by his brother [Dr. Olikoye Ransome Kuti] to announce that he [Fela] died of AIDS was the best.
“I remember we [Fela’s children] had a big fight with my uncle at a time. They had already diagnosed Fela with AIDS at the hospital.
“Uncle Koye wasn’t in town when the diagnosis came. And he came maybe about two days later…Then he called us, Femi, Shola and I, ‘you know what has happened, I’m going to announce to the press that he has AIDS.’
“We said, ‘No, way’. At that time, we still thought Fela would survive. We said, ‘look, it’s not your place to announce that Fela has AIDS, if Fela survives, let him.’ And he said, ‘Okay, you have a point.’
“But then, Fela now died. And he [Dr. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti] said he is going to announce that Fela had AIDS.
“We quarrelled with him. The whole family started talking to us, ‘it’s not good to lie, people are still going to discover.’ So, reluctantly, we agreed.
“But I have to say it now, I think it was the best decision that my uncle made. If he had not announced it, till now they [journalists] will still be doing underground ‘what killed Fela?’”
Watch the video below …
