By Ghazali Ibrahim
A Journalist, Kayode Badmus, has stirred conversation online after claiming that the world should be “thankful Fela was an Olódo,” arguing that the Afrobeat pioneer’s academic struggles finally gave the world one of its greatest musical icons.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Badmus revisited the family background of the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, highlighting the towering academic and activist legacy from which he emerged.
Fela was born into a household deeply rooted in education and social activism. His father, Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, was a prominent educationist and one of the leading figures behind the formation of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, where he served as its pioneer president. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, remains one of Africa’s most celebrated female activists, remembered for her fierce advocacy for women’s rights and anti-colonial resistance.
Funmilayo broke barriers early in life as the first female student admitted into Abeokuta Grammar School, then an all-boys institution. She went on to become a political organiser and a symbol of female empowerment across Nigeria and beyond.
Within the accomplished Ransome-Kuti family, academic excellence was the norm. Fela’s siblings pursued medical careers abroad. His sister Dolupo trained as a nurse in the United Kingdom, while his brother Olikoye Ransome-Kuti studied paediatrics at Trinity College, Dublin, later serving as Nigeria’s Health Minister. Another brother, Bekolari, also trained as a medical doctor at the University of Manchester before returning to Nigeria.
Fela, however, followed a different path.
According to Badmus’ account, Fela struggled academically and could not secure admission to study medicine like his siblings. Instead, when he travelled to the United Kingdom, he was enrolled in music school. This became a decision that later change the course of African music history.
Rather than becoming a medical practitioner, Fela pioneered Afrobeat, blending highlife, jazz, funk and traditional Yoruba rhythms into a powerful political and cultural movement.
Over the decades, his music became synonymous with resistance, social commentary and Pan-African consciousness.
Though he never received a Grammy nomination during his lifetime, global recognition of his influence has grown steadily.
In 2025, his 1976 album Zombie was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In February 2026, he was posthumously honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys, becoming the first African artist to receive the accolade.
Nearly three decades after his death in 1997, Fela remains one of the most sampled and referenced African musicians worldwide, with his music featured in major Hollywood productions and embraced by younger generations of artists.
For many admirers, Fela’s academic struggles were not a failure but a turning point.
“Imagine Fela was academically brilliant,” he wrote. “We could have lost him to medicine… perhaps that legend would never have been born.”
