The Republic of Kalakuta was the name that the musician and political activist Fela Kuti gave to the communal complex in which he lived with his family and the members of his band. Located at number 14 of Agege Motor Road, Idi-Oro, Mushin, Lagos, Nigeria, it had a free health center and a recording studio. Fela declared his independence from Nigeria after returning from the United States in 1970.
The word "kalakuta" was a mockery of the cell in which Fela was imprisoned called Calcutta. The complex burned down completely on February 18, 1977, after the assault by thousands of armed soldiers.
Before the attack, Fela made a disc called Zombie (album), about the Nigerian military regime. In the song, the soldiers are represented as zombies by blindly obeying the orders of the state. One of the phrases of the song, in pidgin English, says "zombie does not walk if you do not tell him to walk". While not criticizing the idea of military service, Fela was frustrated with the Nigerian army base that allowed corruption and intimidation of its communities by the corrupt and the wealthy, while blindly following orders to intimidate the Nigerians. p>
The song was quite successful in Nigeria, disturbing the General Head of State Olusegun Obasanjo. The soldier was dissatisfied with Fela's constant criticism and said that it was unseemly to have a republic within a republic. Nigerian tabloids published grim but unverified stories of girls attracted and corrupted by members of the Fela band.
During the attack on the Republic of Kalakuta by Nigerian soldiers, Francis Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas, Fela's mother, was pushed through a second-story window and died after spending almost eight weeks in a coma.
After the looting of the Republic of Kalakuta, Fela planned to marry 27 of her choristers in a mass ceremony in the office of her lawyer, Tunji Braithwaite, as a celebration of the first anniversary on February 18, 1978, but failed. But two days later, on February 20, 1978, he secretly married the 27 women, popularly known as "Queens", at the now-defunct Hotel Parisona, on the Ikorodu (Lagos) road. Fela said she would not marry all the women as the tabloids suggested, and that she had married them because they could not find work after the recording studio was burned. According to Fela, in the African tradition, when a woman was in danger of being disadvantaged, it was the duty of the man in her community to marry her as a means of protection.
When Fela died, he was buried in the territory of his State.
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