Seun Kuti Denies Endorsing Jonathan

FOLLOWING his alleged endorsement of president Goodluck Jonathan in the February 14 general election by some dailies not The Guardian, Afrobeat musician, Seun Kuti took during the week took to his Facebook page to debunk the rumour. 

    Seun in his post on the Facebook page said, “Please everyone disregard this news making the rounds about my position on Buhari. I never told anyone not to vote for Buhari. When asked, I said I am not voting for anyone. Jonathan for his incompetence and Buhari for personal reasons. 

    “Pressed further, I told the journalist who is actually a friend until now that it’s personal; he jailed my father, an innocent man and I didn’t see him for my first three years. I never saw my dad, and I said people shouldn’t vote Buhari. What caught my eye is the fact that this bastards in Tribune and Union didn’t say nothing about not voting for Jonathan. 

       So after all the back door approach didn’t yield any fruit, they want to hijack my thoughts and words to support Jonathan. That’s just wrong and shows the incompetence of our media. I actually said to jail an innocent man is to be evil like Hitler. Jonathan hasn’t jailed any innocent men I know of, but he has let the guilty ones like Abba Moro walk free, which is just as sinister. 

    “Seyi I am disappointed in you and will never grant you audience again. This kind of bastardisation and manipulation is a curse on our journalism. I never said you shouldn’t vote for Buhari. In fact it’s an indictment on the Jonathan regime that a man like Buhari has become the best. Yes I said it, BEST option to safeguard our nation at this moment in history. 

     “The fact that Buhari looks good is a big shame to Jonathan who is the first president since Abiola the people fought and marched for his opportunity to govern and what did he do with all the sweat and blood we spilled for him in 2009? He just wanted to steal. Shame on u!

     Seun in the January 11 interview was quoted saying…“It is not about whether I would vote or not, but I want a lot of young people to go out and vote. My not voting is because I am trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. So, I just refused to be forced into voting for Buhari because to be honest, Jonathan and his administration are not working.

     Truth is that I have no reason to give my vote to any of the two contestants, but more especially Buhari because of the eternal emotional damage he caused the Kuti family, especially me.

      Personally, I don’t want to vote for Buhari or Jonathan. Jonathan is not a good president and Buhari himself, is not the solution to Nigeria’s problems. But we need to keep our democracy going except people are ready. This is my opinion and I don’t want people to emulate it. I have personal reasons that others might not have, for example: Buhari jailed my father on currency trafficking. My father did nothing wrong, but he put him in the prison for three years.

    My first three years in life from 1984 to 1986, I didn’t see my dad; he was dumped somewhere in Maiduguri. This is my own personal reason, for a man like Fela, who will never commit a crime. I know my dad and for you to jail that man you must be inherently evil. You know when you have experienced such blatant disregard for human right by taking away three years of his life for doing nothing.

    I will only urge Nigerians, especially her youths, to come out enmasse to elect the ruler of their choice so that Nigeria’s democracy will continue to grow. As for me though, I will never vote for Buhari because of what he did to my father. It is a personal grouse. I have personal grudge against him; it has nothing to do with his political agenda.

    The fuel subsidy was a chance for youths in the country to challenge this government for its wrong policies, but the youth were not united. We had to allow the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to bail us out of the situation. Hopefully, after this election, I hope the younger generation would understand and be more united for 2019 when we will be having another election.