Yeni Kuti, the girl of the amazing afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, uncovers that it was her uncle’s choice to declare that her dad passed on from Helps.
Yeni claimed that her uncle, Dr. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, had made the public announcement that their father had died from AIDS.
During a recent interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo, Yeni revealed that other members of the family convinced them to let their uncle make the announcement several times.
As indicated by Yeni Kuti, she later understood that her uncle’s choice was the most appropriate one, as it conclusively set out to settle any hypotheses encompassing the reason for the notable performer’s passing.
In her words;
“Then, I didn’t think the decision by his brother to announce that he died of AIDS was the best.
“I remember we 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 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 will still be doing underground ‘what killed Fela?’”
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