Late Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, also known as Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti, was a Nigerian teacher, political campaigner, women’s rights activist and a traditional aristocrat. She was also the mother of the legendary musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti and grandmother to Femi Kuti who followed in his father’s footsteps to become a famous musician. She is widely recognised as one of the most prominent leaders of her generation who fought for equal rights for women in Nigeria and paved the way for successful and independent women today. She is also known as the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria. Her political activism led to her great title as the “Doyen of Female rights in Nigeria’ as well as “The Mother of Africa.”
Late Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was also a very powerful force advocating for the Nigerian woman’s right to vote, and was described in 1947, by theWest African Pilot, as the “Lioness of Lisabi” for her leadership of the women of the Egba people on a campaign against their arbitrary taxation, which led to the abdication of the high king Oba Ademola II in 1949. She was a great activist who fought for equal rights till her death in 1978 which was caused when she was thrown from a third-floor window of her son Fela’s compound when it was stormed by one thousand armed military personnel. Among her many notable achievements are the top 5 listed below, which she is continually recognised for today:
- She was the winner of the Lenin Peace Prize
- She was the founder of the Egba Women’s Association
- She was the treasurer and subsequent president of the Western NCNC Women’s Association
- She founded the Commoners People’s Party
- She was one of the women elected to the serving House of Chiefs
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