“Every generation must recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly designed by history and by providence to perform.”-Chinua Achebe
October 1, marks 54th independence from colonial rule in 1960. Every year, for some time now I have not celebrated Independence Day, as I feel there is so little to celebrate.
Some Nigerians are in denial that there is every reason to celebrate nonetheless and then they go on to offer reasons such as “it’s my country” or “things are changing”.
In a country of over 170 million people and a fifth of all Africans being Nigerians; it is home to 300 ethnic and cultural groups, we are truly people blessed with land so green, lush and teeming with natural resources. There is nothing wrong with Nigeria but Nigerians!
Anyway, I have come to praise a true great and patriotic Nigerian. It is that spirit of selflessness and patriotism that I celebrate this giant of Nigeria. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti (FRK), was born Francis Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas on October 25, 1900 in Abeokuta.
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a Nigerian feminist who fought for suffrage and equal rights for her country women long before it became fashionable. Known as the Lioness of Lisabi or Mother Africa, she was instrumental in the struggle for Nigeria’s Independence.
She was a woman on a mission; defending the rights of women and she led by example. She was not afraid to use her voice and woe betides anyone who stood on her way. She was a juggernaut!
FRK was fortunate to have parents who believed in the value of education and she excelled in schools both in Abeokuta and in England. On return from her studies in England she taught and in 1925 she married the Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, the founder of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) and Nigerian Union of Students (NUS), a forerunner of the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC).
And FRK was active in the NCNC, leading the women’s wing but her contribution to women suffrage was second to none, in Nigeria. She was a formidable woman, a fire brand and she had such power of oratory and persuasion that women gathered to hear her speak. Her hard work and mass participation led to the creation of The Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU) and she later founded the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF).
She worked tirelessly and courageously promoted the rights of women. She supported and fought for the rights of women to education, employment and political participation.
And then there was the legendary standoff with the Oba Alake of Egbaland, Ladapo Ademola, who wanted to impose taxes on women. FRK and the AWU movement organised a mass protest with the slogan ‘no taxation without representation’. I won’t tell you what they were chanting but it was very colourful and they stood right in front of the Oba’s palace chanting.
The anti-tax protest action was a long and protracted one in which FRK was at the head leading the women in the struggle which eventually resulted in the temporary abdication of the Alake of Abeokuta. She had so much empathy and kinship with the women regardless of her background and level of education.
She listened and was moved by the horror stories that homes were ransacked, physically assaulted, stripped naked and some were jailed for non-payment. They were harassed by the police and the representatives of the Oba. She felt their pain and stated that “we, educated women were living outside the daily life of the people”.
And from there on she stopped wearing western clothes and wore the traditional clothes in her solidarity with the women. She said her decision was “in order to make the women feel and know I was one of them”. She also refused to address the women in English.
She had such strength and conviction and was not afraid to challenge part of the tradition she felt was oppressive such as kneeling and prostrating to elders or people of traditional status. She and her husband refuse to do so and they taught their children not to do so.
I am sure that people did not know that prior to Nigeria’s independence, she was one of the most travelled Nigerians: she travelled to America and Britain, she also travelled to China( she met Mao Tse Tung in 1956) and Russia.
These visits did not seat well with America and Britain who thought she was smooching with enemy, that she was becoming radicalised with communist ideologies so they refused her visa. FRK founded the Commoners Peoples Party challenging the ruling NCNC, denying them victory in her area. She got 4,665 votes to NCNC’s 9,755 thus allowing the opposition, Action Group 10,443 votes to win.
She was denied NCNC ticket because they fear that she was too radical otherwise she would have been the first federal female member of parliament. While she was in NCNC, she was the treasurer and then the president of the Western NCNC women’s’ Association. She was one of the delegates that negotiated Nigerian independence with the British in 1957. In 1953 she founded the Federation of Nigerian Women societies.
In 1932, she founded the Abeokuta Ladies Club (ALC).Initially membership was mostly Western-educated and working-class women. The club expanded in 1944 to include market women. To begin working against injustice and the exploitation of market women. In 1946 the ALC became the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU), and membership was expanded.
It was unprecedented even in modern times but she commanded a crowd of over 100,000 Abeokuta women to work together to provide social welfare services and to pursue a gender-conscious agenda. Under FRK’s leadership, the FNWS was devoted to addressing the concerns of all Nigerian women and improving their position in society, including education, suffrage, health care, and other social services.
She mobilised mass demonstrations, rebuttal, and refusals to pay the tax. In order to get round the prohibition of demonstration (they refuse them permits) the women called their gatherings Picnics and festivals. FRK led training sessions in her compound for these demonstrations. She showed the women how to cover their eyes and noses and mouths so they are not overwhelmed by tear gas. She brazenly told them to pick the gas canister and throw it back at the police! This is an act of which legend is made.
This was in 1947! These women were fearless and they even challenged the ORO, who is a male ritual entity shrouded in myths and supernatural powers. Not FRK, she took the staff and displayed it in her home! She was fearless. The battles long and hard but eventually the women succeeded in getting their demands.
In 1953 the NWU held a two-day conference, a “parliament of women of Nigeria” with 400 delegates from 15 provinces, in which a number of resolutions relating to the political objectives were passed.
Such a woman was too formidable for the NCNC, and she was expelled for challenging the party for their corruption and the exclusion of women in decision making.
She also wrote an article on the same topic which was published in the British Communist Party paper, the Daily Worker, and reproduced for Nigerian papers.
FRK argued that under colonial rule women had lost more than men: “Before the British advent in Nigeria. There was a division of labour between men and women, Women owned property, traded and exercised considerable political and social influence in society and with the advent of the British rule. Instead of women being educated and assisted. Their condition has deteriorated.”
The Alake of Abeokuta wrote a reply denouncing the article whilst the Lagos Market Women’s Association and the Abeokuta Women’s Union both declared their support for her arguments and FRK was given a huge reception on her return to Abeokuta.
After her husband died in 1955, FRK continue to build and run several schools with or without the help of the federal government. She continues to fight for the rights of the oppressed on February 18th 1977, at 14 Agege Motor Road the property she shared with her son, Fela called the Kalakuta Republic was surrounded by a thousand armed soldiers .
In the fight that ensued, the army stormed the building beating everyone and destroying property. They did not spare FRK, who was 77 at the time was thrown out of the window and she sustained injury to her legs. This ruthlessness was too much even for the lioness and she died a year later. This year I salute a true Nigerian and a formidable woman of unbelievable stature, Funmilayo Ransome Kuti.
“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” –Chinua Achebe
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