#WCW – Oluwafunmilayo Ransome-Kuti; A Great Leader
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, original name Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas, also calledFunmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti (born October 25, 1900, Abeokuta, Egbaland [now in Nigeria]—died Lagos, Nigeria), Nigerian feminist and political leader who was the leading advocate of women’s rights in her country during the first half of the 20th century.
Born Francisca Abigail Oluwafunmilayo Thomas; to Daniel Olumuyiwa Thomas and Lucretia Phyllis Omoyemi Adesolu on October 25, 1900 in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The late Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, is perhaps one of the most revered Nigerian women in history. She was a teacher, political campaigner, human rights activist and traditional aristocrat, a trait she lived and died for on April 13, 1978 in Lagos.
She served with distinction as one of the most prominent leaders of her generation. Ransome-Kuti’s political activism led to her being described as the doyen of female emancipation in Nigeria, as well as to her being regarded as ‘The Mother of Africa’.
Earlier on, she was a very powerful force, advocating for the Nigerian woman’s right to vote. She was described in 1947, by the West African Pilot as the ‘Lioness of Lisabi’ for her leadership of the women of the ‘Egba’ clan that she belonged to, on a campaign against their arbitrary taxation. That struggle led to the abdication of the Egba high king, Oba Ademola II in 1949. Funmilayo Kuti was the mother of the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, medical doctor and rightS activist, Beko Ransome-Kuti, and Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, also a medical doctor and former health minister of Nigeria.
…with son, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti
Early life
Funmilayo was born in Abeokuta while her father was a son of a returned slave from Sierra Leone, who traced his ancestral history back to Abeokuta, in what is today known as Ogun State. She attended the Abeokuta Grammar School for secondary education, and later, went to England for further studies. She returned to Nigeria and became a teacher. On January 20, 1925, she married Rev. Israel Oludotun Ransome Kuti. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti received the national honour of Membership of the Order of Nigeria in 1965. The University of Ibadan bestowed upon her, the honorary Doctorate of Laws in 1968. She also held a seat in the Western House of Chiefs of Nigeria as an ‘Oloye’ of the Yoruba people.
Activism
Throughout her career, she was known as an educator and activist. She and Elizabeth Adekogbe provided dynamic leadership for women’s rights in the ‘50s. She founded an organisation for women in Abeokuta, with a membership of over 20,000 individuals, spanning both literate and illiterate women. Ransome-Kuti launched the organisation into public consciousness when she rallied women against price controls which were hurting the female merchants of the Abeokuta markets. Trading was one of the major occupations of women in the Western Nigeria of the time.
In 1949, she led a protest against native authorities, especially against the Alake of Egbaland. She presented documents alleging abuse of authority by the Alake, who had been granted the right to collect the taxes by his colonial suzerain, the Government of the United Kingdom. He subsequently relinquished his crown for a time due to the affair. She also oversaw the successful abolishing of separate tax rates for women. In 1953, she founded the Federation of Nigerian Women Societies which subsequently formed an alliance with the Women’s International Democratic Federation.
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti campaigned for women’s votes. She was for many years a member of the ruling National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons Party, but was later expelled when she was not elected to a federal parliamentary seat. At the NCNC, she was the treasurer and subsequent president of the Western NCNC Women’s Association. After her suspension, her political voice was diminished due to the direction of national politics, as both of the more powerful members of the opposition, Awolowo and Adegbenro, had support close by. However, she never truly ended her activism.
In the 1950s, she was one of the few women elected to the House of Chiefs. At the time, this was one of her homeland’s most influential bodies. She founded the Egba or Abeokuta Women’s Union alongside Eniola Soyinka, her sister-in-law and mother of Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka. This organisation was said to have had a membership of 20,000 women. Among other things, Fumilayo Ransom-Kuti organised workshops for illiterate market women. She continued to campaign against taxes and price controls.
House where Funmi delivered Fela
During the Cold War and before the independence of the country, Funmilayo Kuti travelled widely and angered the Nigerian as well as British and American Governments by her contacts with the Eastern Bloc. This included her travel to the former USSR, Hungary and China, where she met Mao Zedong.
In 1956, her passport was not renewed by the government because it was said that “it can be assumed that it is her intention to influence Nigerian women with communist ideas and policies.” She was also refused a U.S. visa because the American government alleged that she was a communist.
Prior to independence, she founded the Commoners Peoples Party in an attempt to challenge the ruling NCNC, ultimately denying them victory in her area. She got 4,665 votes to NCNC’s 9,755, thus allowing the opposition, Action Group (which had 10,443 votes) to win. She was one of the delegates that negotiated Nigeria’s independence with the British Government.
Death
In old age, her activism was over-shadowed by that of her three sons, who provided effective opposition to various Nigerian military juntas. In 1978, Funmilayo was thrown from a second-floor window when her son, Fela’s compound, a commune known as the Kalakuta Republic was invaded by about one thousand armed military personnel. She lapsed into a coma in February of that year and died on April 13, 1978 as a result of her injuries.
Achievements
Amongst several of her feats was her appointment as one of the women elected to the native House of Chiefs, serving as an Oloye of the Yoruba people, ranking member of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, Treasurer and President, Western Women Association of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, Leader, Abeokuta Women’s Union, Leader, Commoners Peoples Party, Leader, Nigeria Women’s Union. Uniquely, the late Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was the first Nigerian woman to drive a car.
Source: mynewswatchtimesng.com/
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