Afrobeat singer Femi Kuti has reacted to a report he called supporters of Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi ‘zombies’.
Zombie was the title of a studio album released in 1976 by Femi’s father, Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
Some media reports on Friday claimed that the 60-year-old described Peter Obi supporters as ‘zombies’ during his performance at the Afrika Shrine on Thursday.
“You know what obedience means? Stand up, sit down, sit there — zombie. How can you be Obidient in this chaos? I am not Obidient. Tell me, at 60, why am I Obidient? You said I should be Obidient, sit down, be peaceful. Are you all okay in this country?” the report stated.
Reacting to one of the reports in a Twitter post on Friday, Femi Kuti denied the claim, adding that his words were taken out of context.
He wrote: “You are such liars. Of what benefit is it to the people when you take my words out of context like this? I said I’m too angry at my age to be obedient. Expressing I do not like the ‘term’ But if Peter Obi wins and actually changes the country better for all of us.”
Femi Kuti has not publicly endorsed any presidential candidate.
In September 2020, Femi said he refused to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) partly because President Muhammadu Buhari jailed his father.
Buhari was military head of state in 1984 when Fela was jailed on a charge of currency smuggling.
The jail sentence was widely denounced as politically motivated because the singer was a vocal critic of the government.
That experience formed parts of the lyrics for Fela’s 1989 song ‘Beast of no Nation’.
