Professor Hindu, whose real name is Kwaku Addai, was a close spiritual companion and magician of the late Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti. He says he was seven years old when he realized he had a gift. He studied tailoring after graduating from high school. He abandoned it, nonetheless, in favor of the more lucrative profession as a magician. Fela renamed his Afrika 70 band as Egypt 80 in the same year. According to reports, while on assignment at Fela’s New Afrika Shrine, Professor Hindu “reportedly hacked open one man’s throat and fatally shot another.” The two were purportedly brought back to life. After his mother passed away in 1981, Fela Kuti brought Professor Hindu to Lagos, where he thereafter served as Fela’s spiritual adviser.
Professor Hindu is notorious for being a magician who killed two individuals in Ikeja and then brought them back to life a few days later. He was Fela’s spiritual advisor, and they had a tight relationship. But Fela’s intimacy frequently got him into problems. Fela was incarcerated for five years after following Professor Hindu’s advice; he had promised that airport security would not discover foreign currency in his pocket, but they did. Fela is accused of participating in an armed robbery in Ikeja, Lagos, in December. Before the ridiculous accusation is dropped Fela is physically assaulted by the cops, he was beaten so badly that, years later, he claims that this was the only time he truly feared for his life out of all the times he had been battered. I can’t stop questioning myself if Fela’s descent into this new spiritual experience was brought on by the death of his mother. His mother was his inspiration, defender, soul mate, and source of motivation—in other words, she was everything.
He was also known by the nickname “Omo lya Aje,” which translates to “son of a witch.”
This is in reference to Fela’s daring and bravery in taking on the establishment and, each time, emerging from the ensuing tragic spectacles unscathed. A horror that was unfathomable for lowly mortals! It was believed that his mom had bestowed upon him a sort of enchanted shield.
Whether this is true or not, it is indisputable that Fela viewed his mother as his guardian against harm during all of his struggles. With the advantage of hindsight, Fela’s mother had, for the most part, fulfilled this role in practically every violent and dangerous contact he had with State Security Agencies.