So Independence day was coming and I was inspired to write about Nigerian heroes, you know the ones hinted at in our anthem, the ones on our Nigerian currency. The people we've been taught to admire our entire lives. The problem was while there was alot to admire about what they did and achieved , there was alot to scrutinise and denounce, Awolowo ? Brilliant mind with incredible foresight, however he was complicit in Biafra and it's war crimes not to mention how he undermined Azikiwe as prime minister which damaged relations between yoruba and igbo people as well as setting a bad precedent on respect for rule of law. Ahmadu Bello , unified his people but could be fiercely divisive along tribal lines. Muratala Muhammed really shouldn't have the airport named after him, not a huge fan of coup leaders.Maybe Azikiwe is someone I could rally behind and to his credit he spoke all 3 languages and did want Nigeria as whole not just his tribe to succeed, he however was way too much if an idealist and compromised on the basis of pragmatism which often bit him in the back like one of my favourite african hero Thomas Sankara they trusted people too much and expected too much of his rivals and colleagues, at times I wish there were more aggressive and cunning but hindsight is 50/50.
The more and more I read the less I admired about Nigeria's so called heroes and I realised alot of Nigeria's issues could be tied back to these "heroes", and alot of their legacies are tainted with ugly blights, and on that tangent history needs to be taught in it's entirety to Nigerians from primary school to secondary school ( in general our educational system needs to be reformed and redone , it's a mess but that's a whole nother palaba to unpack ). All these heroes in general gave me strong reservations, I could not write about any of them in the light I had desired, except one popular hero , one singular person that to the best of my knowledge did not do anything awful historically.
Our hero's name is Funmilayo Ransome Kuti , and she was amazing and the best of our founding heroes. Again I am talking among founding fathers(or mother in this case), Dora Akunyili ,Dele Giwa and others are up there and equally deserve praise and appreciation, but to the best of my knowledge she did not commit any deeply troubling acts.
Born in 1900 to the prominent Jibolu-Taiwo family, she was educated in England before returning home to Abeokuta where she married Israel Ransome Kuti in 1925 with whom she had 4 kids with. Nicknamed the lioness of lisabi her main work was mostly feminist activism for women's rights and education, while early on she was a force in the negotiation for the freedom of Nigeria from British imperialism. Her activism was very inclusive as her woman's organisation in Abeokuta (Abeokuta Women's Union founded along with Eniola Soyinka) spanned 20,000 women composed of literate and illiterate women (for whom she organised workshops for).The organisation came into prominence when she made the Alake of Egbaland relinquish his crown when she successfully rallied women against price controls and taxing of market women of abeokuta which affected them negatively, and provided documents proving the Alake's abuse of power with the taxing and also later worked in abolishing separate and different taxing for women. She also fought passionately and succeeded in making sure women's votes were counted and mattered. A quick rundown of her more prominent achievements:
Took part in the pre-independence conferences that laid the groundwork for Nigeria's First Republic.
One of the women appointed to the native House of Chiefs, serving as an Oloye of the Yoruba people.
Honorary doctorate from the University of Ibadan.
National honour of membership in the Order of Nigeria.
In 1965 Ranking member of the National Order of Nigerians and Cameroons.
Treasurer and President Western Women Association of the National Order of Nigerians and Cameroons.
Leader of Abeokuta Women's Union.
Leader of Commoners Peoples Party
Leader of Nigeria Women's Union.
First woman to drive a car in Nigeria
Winner of the Lenin Peace Prize.
She was sadly murdered by the Nigerian government during a raid on her son's (Fela) home in 1976 who at that time , while a staunch critic and adversary of the government had never engaged in violence, thrown out the window while 3 floors up, she went into a coma and died later on from injuries related to that assault. it deeply troubled me finding this out. What danger could a 76 year old pose to a squadron of soldiers, and what could warrant them to attack her in such an inhumane way? For a woman who did so much for us, whom we had bestowed an Order of Nigeria(essentially a knighthood) just 10 years before her death, it was a shameful way for her to go. In 2012 the government considered immortalising her by putting her on the then proposed N5000 naira note, her family said they should issue an apology for their role in her death, they disgustingly withdrew the offer.
The more I read the more I was impressed( trust me is there is alot more to read in detail ), I really wonder why she doesn't get more love expressed in our media ( songs, movies and plays ), she is beyond deserving of it. Her legacy and activism didn't end with her , she was a mentor to Gambo Sawaba, who fought for women's rights in the northern Nigeria. She was the mother of Fela, Beko & Olikoye Kuti prominent activists against military governments. She was an amazing woman who was near reproach and a true mother to Nigeria.
If you want to read more on her :
http://54.72.213.104/PDFs/AfricanAmazon/Johnson-Odim.pdf
http://www.nigerianbiography.com/2015/10/funmilayo-ransome-kuti-biography-and.html
Comments