Go beyond protest to achieve real change, Seun Kuti tells Nigerians

Popular musician Seun Kuti has called on Nigerians to move beyond mere protests to achieve the change they desire.

Kuti, the youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, made the statement in an interview on Channels Television, where he explained that he sees protest as “the beginning of the dance.”

His call follows the recent nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests held from August 1 to 10 against the country’s current hardships.

Kuti noted that protesting alone is not enough, likening it to a child complaining to caring parents, saying, “What I will say to Nigerians is that protest is not enough. I see protests as a child going to a loving parent complaining, ‘Oh, daddy, mummy, I don’t want to eat this,’ because the daddy and mummy care.”

He added that protests alone are insufficient, as they only serve as a complaint to those in power who do not care about the people’s plight.

Kuti stated, “These people don’t care; that’s why I don’t preach protest only; I preach mass organisation because we the people must also organise ourselves for power.

“It is not enough that we are protesting because we don’t like what they do; we must also send signals that we are ready to replace them. Not with another version of themselves like we did before, PDP to APC, but with new people, representatives from our side of the divide, to rule this country for our own benefit.”

He, however, called on Nigerians to unite and work towards liberating the country from the clutches of capitalism.

“It is not enough that people want to protest. Protest is the beginning of this dance. The real party starts when we begin to mass mobilise into a socialist movement to release this country from the capitalism that we are experiencing,” he added.