The Movement of the People, commonly abbreviated as MOP or M.O.P, is a Nigerian
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
pan-African
Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement ext ...
political movement.
The organisation was originally formed by
Fela Anikulapo Kuti in 1979 as a political party but quickly became inactive due to Fela's confrontations with the government of the day.
It has since been revived by Fela's youngest son, Seun Kuti in the wake of the Nigerian
End SARS
#EndSARS is a decentralised social movement, and series of Demonstration (political), mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria. The slogan calls for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Ni ...
protests of October 2020.
History
In 1979,
Fela Kuti formed a political movement, which he called Movement of the People (MOP), to "clean up society like a mop".
MOP preached
Nkrumahism
Nkrumaism (sometimes Consciencism) is an African socialist political ideology based on the thinking and writing of Kwame Nkrumah. Nkrumah, a pan-Africanist and socialist, served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (later Ghana) from 1952 until ...
and
Africanism.
[''Fela Kuti: Music is the Weapon''. Directors Jean-Jacques Flori and Stephane Tchalgadjieff. 1982. Universal Import. March 2004.] In 1979, he nominated himself for president in Nigeria's first elections in decades, but his candidature was refused. Subsequently, Fela stopped engaging in political activities and the party became inactive.
In November 2020,
Seun Kuti
Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti (born 11 January 1983), who is called by the name Seun Kuti, is a Nigerian musician, singer and the youngest son of the famous Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti. Seun leads his father's former band Egypt 80.
Biography
The y ...
announced the revival of the organisation and the intention to re-register it as a political party. He said that the organisation was being re-established to serve as an opposition to the country’s elites. During a live press conference, Seun explained that the Movement of the People (MOP) was a coalition of socialist and progressive organisations.
In January 2021, Seun informed the press that a formal request had been sent to
INEC to register the movement as a political party.
References
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Pan-Africanism in Nigeria
African and Black nationalist organizations in Africa
Politics of Nigeria
Fela Kuti
Decolonization
African philosophy
Anti-capitalist political parties
Far-left political parties
Political parties in Nigeria
Organizations established in 2020
National liberation movements in Africa
Pan-Africanist political parties in Africa
Left-wing parties
2021 establishments in Nigeria
Anti-imperialist organizations
Organizations based in Lagos
Political parties established in 2020