Igbesi Aiye Chief Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (The life and times of Chief Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti)

Abstract

This Yoruba Ajami text written in 2020 is a biography of Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, a Nigerian activist, feminist, and the first woman in Abeokuta to drive a car. She is recognized as the first female Nigerian political activist. She is lovingly called as “The Mother of Africa.” Her full name is Francis Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas. Mrs. Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was born on October 25, 1900 to Lucretia Phyllis Omoyeni Adeosulu and Daniel Olumeyuwa Thomas. She attended the Abeokuta Grammar School and completed her education in England. She returned to Nigeria and became a teacher. Chief Funmilayo was then married to Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti in 1925. She became the leader of the Nigerian Union of Students and later joined the Nigerian Union of Teachers. This Anjemi text (Ajami in Yoruba) also highlights Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti's educational, social, and political struggles as an activist, politician, and educator in Nigeria who fought for gender equality and started a campaign to help Nigerian women obtain the right to drive a car. She created the Commoners' People's Party to challenge the ruling National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). During the Cold War, Funmilayo Kuti traveled to several countries of the Eastern Bloc, including USSR, China and Hungary. Mao Zedong met with her in 1956. She was one of the most influential people who negotiated for the independence of her country with British authorities. She died at 77 after receiving injuries from a military raid on her family property. Chief Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti is the mother of the renowned Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti (October 15, 1938–August 2, 1997) who championed Afrobeat music.