When people dabble in subject matters beyond their depth, they are bound to betray ignorance and contradict themselves along the way. So it is with Seun, the youngest son of the legendary Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti. Despite admitting that he has never prayed in his life, Seun Kuti dismissed prayer as ineffectual and childish. “I don’t believe prayer works,” he categorically declared. Pray, who repudiates the efficacy of what they have never practised? His pontification might have been convincing if it were spoken from personal experience.
In one breath, the Afrobeat musician and activist admitted that he does not know how to pray, yet in another, he ridiculed those who pray as being showy and theatrical. Prayer is integral to human existence and daily life. Worship and prayer go hand in glove. Libations poured and incantations chanted by traditionalists are prayers. The oath taken by public officials during their inauguration is encapsulated in prayer. Even the National Pledge recited by citizens is a prayer. Perhaps instances like the last two are what fuel the notion that prayer is ineffective. Seun specifically justified his repudiation of prayer by recalling his release from incarceration while prayerful inmates, to whom freedom had been prophesied, continued languishing in the same jail.
This, however, does not change the fact that his arguments in the now-viral video are muddled. For instance, what a false equivalence it is for him to conflate a Christian’s lifestyle and actions with prayer! His words were: “Your life is the prayer. What you do with your life is the only prayer. Your act, your action, is prayer.” On the face of it, people do not use the life they lead to seek the face of God—which is essentially what prayer is about. Rather than being a means of supplication to the Almighty, virtuous living is better suited to soul-winning, where a believer’s lifestyle becomes the Bible read by unbelievers.
We can only agree with Seun’s lifestyle-as-prayer corollary within the context of “faith it till you get it,” where believers move beyond praying into living out their expectations until they materialise. But one can be sure this dimension is beyond him. For him to dismiss how people pray as eye service, what derogatory term would he not deploy on the faithful who call the things that be not as though they were? If he had lived in Abrahamic times, could Seun have tolerated Abram, who, despite having no child, lived like the father of multitudes God had named him?
Mercifully, the gaping holes in Kuti’s opinion serve as a cautionary tale that should mitigate whatever demoralising effect his submission may have on the faithful. Being an online thought leader does not make one a knowledge expert. Given how impressionable his interlocutor and others in the studio appeared in the footage, one hopes the social media influencer does not negatively shape people’s disposition towards prayer. Should that happen, imminent testimonies may be imperilled.
Although he referenced other faiths and their clerics, the musician seemed more fixated on Christians, as evidenced by his mimicry of speaking in tongues. He only needs to be reminded of Hannah to realise that what he derides is not melodrama. 1 Samuel 1:13–14 (AMPC) recounts: “Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. And Eli said to her, How long will you be intoxicated? Put your wine away from you.”
If a high priest of Eli’s calibre could not recognise intense prayer, how do we expect Seun Kuti to? The difference, however, is that Eli did not persist in doubt but validated Hannah’s prayer upon receiving clarity. He assured her: “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him” (1 Samuel 1:17). And indeed, the Lord speedily granted the barren woman’s request. Prayer works. The problem, as Leonard Ravenhill noted in Why Revival Tarries, is that “we have left agonising and gone into organising.” God does not reward showmanship.
Seun further argued, “The concept of God that people have is even why prayer is completely null and void. If you claim that God has written down what is going to happen from beginning to end—He has His plan, His will must be done—if your prayer does not align with the will of this your God, then the prayer will not be answered.” On this point, he deserves commendation. Indeed, God does not respond to man; rather, man responds to God. To pander to human wishes would diminish His sovereignty and supremacy. We speak of a God who knows the end from the beginning and has everything perfectly ordered. In this regard, the Afrobeat star is spot on.
He, however, contradicts himself by failing to understand that the prayer mannerisms he lampooned are often how the Holy Spirit leads believers in prayer. Why introduce the Holy Spirit into this discourse? Because He is a member of the Godhead who helps Christians pray in alignment with the Father’s will. Romans 8:26–27 (AMP) explains: “In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what prayer to offer or how to offer it as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes on our behalf with sighs and groanings too deep for words… in accordance with God’s will.”
What an intoxicating yet relieving experience this is! No high compares to a life filled with the Holy Spirit. Seun should try it sometime. Oh, but it is the exclusive privilege of saints. Brother Seun can partake of this supernatural experience by believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and publicly confessing Him as Lord and personal Saviour. That is when the Holy Spirit can take over his life and, in short order, lead him into what he might describe as gymnastics in the place of prayer. Not to worry—he would not be the first nonconformist to relish what he once derided.
VIS Ugochukwu, a sage, poet, and essayist, can be reached on X via @sylvesugwuanyi.
Edited by Abuhba