On April 30th 1974, Fela’s house was raided by police and he was taken into custody based on allegations of hemp possession. He was subsequently imprisoned at the police CID headquarters at Alagbon Close.
Because of Fela’s popularity with the under-class of Lagos or “sufferheads” he was elected “President” of this “republic” by his fellow jail mates during his stay.
After Fela’s release, he promptly declared that his home would from that point on would be known as the Kalakuta Republic and used this experience as the inspiration for his next two releases, 𝘈𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘣𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 and 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵.