Ouida Does Justice to a Previously Unheralded Legacy With Mrs. Kuti Book Launch

Mrs. Remilekun Anikulapo-Kuti’s story is one of resilience and strength, a staunch re-emphasis of the adage that “behind every successful man stands a woman.”

For many, the name Remilekun Anikulapo-Kuti is only one of the many affiliated with the legendary Afrobeats singer Fela Kuti, not even deemed worthy of having a Wikipedia page (at the time of writing this article), and certainly not as well known as the likes of Femi, Made, Yeni and Seun Kuti.

But justice has finally been delivered!

Twenty-three years after the passing of Fela’s relatively little-known, beautiful first wife, Remilekun Anikulapo Ransome-Kuti, Ouida Books has published Mrs. Kuti, her very own posthumous memoir.

Launched at Ouida House, Opebi, on January 13, 2025, the book tells of the life and times of Mrs. Remilekun, mother to Yeni (YK), Sola (deceased), and Femi Kuti, and the rollercoaster experience of being in unique proximity with one of the most eccentric and controversial Black Africans ever to walk this earth.

Putting the pieces together

While most of what finally came to be published as Mrs. Kuti started out as a series of stories and journals written by Fela’s wife, Remilekun, it never made print in her lifetime for various reasons.

Speaking at the book launch event hosted by Lola Shoneyin, convener of the Ake Arts and Book Festival, and her erudite partner Dr. Olaokun Soyinka, who is cousins with the Kutis, Yeni Kuti, Fela’s firstborn, expressed regret at not having read her mother’s manuscript in her lifetime, initially dismissing it as one of her “Mills and Boon love stories.”

However, destiny was not to be denied. Several years after Remilekun’s death, the work has finally been published, thanks to the diligent work of the Ouida team.

Regardless, putting together the memoir was no mean feat. Femi Kuti lamented the many missing pieces of the manuscript, which journalists and family friends stole on the pretext of borrowing- never to be returned.

“A lot of journalists came… as we know, some chapters were missing. I was so angry because they never returned them.”

A touch of green and grim humor

Bedecked in varying shades of green, the members of the Kuti family stood out every bit as their larger-than-life figure of a father and patriarch, as they regaled the audience with tales of Fela’s eccentrics and their mother’s love and loyalty to the man, even after he famously married 27 women in a single day.

The camaraderie and easy humor shown among the surviving children of Remilekun Anikulapo-Kuti, even under the spotlight, are a testament to the uniting difference their mother made amid the maelstrom that came with being immediate family to such an enigmatic figure as the late, great Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

The ferocity of the sharp barbs exchanged on stage by Yeni and Femi Kuti only underlined the depth of their affection for one another, certainly fostered by the unheralded great that was their mother, Remilekun Anikulapo-Kuti.

A pillar of strength

Femi Kuti stated that while Fela wasn’t a conventional father, sometimes refusing to pay their school fees and earning the ire of his children at the time, Remilekun always taught her children never to speak against their father.

“No matter what was said about Fela’s children, she would quickly erase it from our minds. Slowly, as we grew up, we started to defend him. She (Remilekun) would explain why he was locked up, the beatings, and why he needed his family. A lot of people give Fela the credit, but she was the secret pillar. If she didn’t hold me, Yeni, and Shola together, today they’d probably say oh, Femi is a drug addict; Yeni is a prostitute. And that is what the bourgeoisie of the elite government would have really loved to say to bring Fela down”, Femi said.

Wrapping Up

The book launch event wound down with touching tributes from Rolari Jacka and Sandra Oyewole and a poetry recitation by Demilade Anikulapo-Kuti.

Mrs. Remilekun Anikulapo-Kuti’s story is one of resilience and strength, a staunch re-emphasis of the adage that “behind every successful man stands a woman.”

Mrs. Kuti is published in Nigeria by Cognix, an imprint of Ouida Books, and is available for purchase on the official website and at bookstores near you.