Religion and the Political Afrobeat of Fela Anikulapo in Contemporary Africa

Religion, as a universal phenomenon, is deeply rooted in cultural practices. Consequently, religious leaders and adherents use cultural arts like music to express religious thoughts in missions and related purposes. While most religious musicians leverage African cultural art to promote religious thoughts, secular singers like Fela Anikulapo use it as rebel art to challenge anomie in the political and religious spaces while shaping public opinion at the same time. This article, with the intent to focus more on the religious perspective, looks at some of Fela’s most popular political afrobeat renditions which placed a lens of criticism on the association of Nigerian politicians and religious leaders. In his songs titled International thief-thief, Authority stealing, Government of crooks, Who are you, Na fight o and Shuffering and shmiling, Fela challenged the alliances of religious and political leaders with colonial powers of his time and accused them of acquisitive venality through exploitations, money laundering and the abuse of religious titles among other issues. Although Fela is deceased, this article delineated the relevance of his political renditions in the current African religious ecosystems and emphasised the need to sustain the awakening created by Fela in the struggle to promote an egalitarian Africa.