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‘A Muslim and a Christian is nothing but an Arab and a European’ – Seun Kuti says, reveals women’s freedom in Africa existed before religion (Video)
Afrobeat musician and outspoken activist Seun Kuti has once again sparked intense debate online after claiming that foreign religions, particularly Christianity and Islam, stripped Africans of their cultural identity and distorted traditional values, especially the respect once accorded to women.
Speaking in a recent interview, the youngest son of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti argued that the arrival of these religions marked the beginning of Africa’s cultural disconnection.
According to him, adopting Christianity or Islam means unconsciously replacing indigenous African values with foreign ideologies.
“A Christian and a Muslim is nothing but an Arab and a European,” he said.
“Once you become a Christian or Muslim, you abandon your African identity and embrace European or Arabic ideas about life.”
Kuti explained that before colonial and religious influences took hold, African societies were far more balanced and respectful toward women than they are today.
He said traditional African systems recognized women as spiritual leaders, community builders, and key decision-makers.
“Any freedom women enjoy in Nigeria today exists because of Africa’s long-standing respect for women. It is part of African tradition to grant women significant freedom. Our culture never suppressed women — it uplifted them,” he emphasized.
The singer lamented that with the spread of foreign religions came new gender hierarchies and patriarchal norms that were alien to African civilization.
These changes, he said, redefined how women were viewed and limited their influence in public and spiritual life.
Kuti concluded by urging Africans to reconnect with their indigenous values, those that promote equality, community, and balance between men and women, rather than clinging to imported beliefs that, in his view, eroded Africa’s original identity.
Watch him speak below:
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