Married to a well-off man and being well-off herself, Funmilayo Kuti did not have to worry about the draconian taxes the British colonial government levied on the Abeokuta market women. She worried anyway and took action, organizing and leading in 1946 one of the largest protests the colony had ever seen. The protest caused the Alake of Abeokuta, a proxy of the British, to abdicate his throne. The government pledged to cut down taxes, and for the first time, Abeokuta women became members of the local council. Funmilayo’s political activism, especially her campaign for women’s rights, lasted throughout her life, enthroning her in the national consciousness as the avatar of feminist heroism.
Her activism met resistance, though. In February 1977, on the instruction of the then military junta, soldiers raided the home of her son, the Afrobeat icon Fela Kuti, and threw a seventy-six-year-old Funmilayo out of a second-story window. Complications from the fall caused her death the following year. Unknown Soldier, released in 1979, is Fela’s livid response to the defenestration and an elegiac tribute to his mother. A new biopic directed by Bolanle Austen-Peters is the latest of the innumerable tributes that have been paid to Funmilayo in her lifetime and posthumously. The movie, a lesson in Self-actualization, depicts Funmilayo’s evolution from a wunderkind to a self-willed woman. It climaxes in her face-off with the Abeokuta royalty and explores the private vulnerabilities of a public figure often imagined as invulnerable.
Three actors play Funmilayo: Iyimide Ayo-Olumoko and Joke Silva, but the most screen time belongs to Kehinde Bankole, whose winning diastema and experience in playing self-willed heroines (as in Adire) make her both physically and psychically right for the part. Austen-Peters, perhaps aiming for an extra layer of verisimilitude, has given roles to some of Funmilayo’s relatives, including Kunle Kuti, Yeni Kuti, and Dotun Ransome-Kuti.
The movie was applauded when it screened at AFRIFF where it picked up an award, and the public will get a chance to make up their mind about it when it hits cinemas May 17. As we await its premiere, let’s recount some of the golden moments in Funmilayo’s life, to see why she is fondly called the Lioness of Lisabi, a winged angel of feminist bravura.
1. First Female Student in Abeokuta Grammar School
Funmilayo was born Frances Olufunmilayo Thomas in 1900 to a successful palm-produce businessman father and a dressmaker mother, both of whom thought highly of female education at a time when such wasn’t the norm. Consequently, Kuti became the first female student admitted into Abeokuta Grammar School, the first secondary school in Ogun State. From a tender age, Funmilayo Kuti witnessed the contrast between the treatment of men and women. As the sole female in her school, she was in a male-dominated environment, an experience that likely groomed her determination to challenge the patriarchy in the future. Later, she traveled to Cheshire in England to continue her education.
2. Founding Abeokuta Ladies Club
In 1932, Funmilayo Kuti organized a ladies’ club in Abeokuta, fostering a space for young girls and women. The initiative engaged in societal projects like organizing picnics, games, and educational lectures for teenagers. In March 1944, ALC opened membership to market women who were not formally educated and organized literacy classes for them. This transformation birthed the Abeokuta Women’s Union. Under her guidance, the AWU became a powerful force, challenging the unjust taxation of market women and advocating for more female representation in government.
3. Organizing one of the country’s most popular and successful protests
The British government imposed a food price control tax on Abeokuta market women during World War II (1939 – 1945), a burden that threatened their livelihoods. Unable to meet these demands, many of the women had their goods seized. Fed up, they organized a protest, with Funmilayo Kuti and her Abeokuta Women’s Union at the helm, against the colonial authority represented by the Alake. Through their relentless protests, their determination ultimately prevailed, and the confiscation of goods stopped.
Yet the Abeokuta Women’s Union’s activism continued, as they turned their attention to a colonial rule introduced in 1918 which mandated girls as young as 15 to pay an annual income tax of three shillings, whereas men were exempted from paying until they turned 18. In 1947 about 10,000 women marched to the Alake’s palace to demand an end to the unfair taxation. These protests that chanted against taxes continued until four women were granted seats on the local council and the direct taxation of women ended in 1948.
These demonstrations evoke memories of similar pre-colonial protests, like the 1929 Aba Women Protest, where women in southeastern Nigeria bravely demonstrated against the British colonial taxation policy and patriarchal legal system.
4. Provided a model for women’s rights organizations
In 1949, the AWU, under Funmilayo’s leadership, shed its regionalist skin and became the Nigerian Women’s Union, this time championing women’s rights nationwide. The organization was established in seven cities across Nigeria, including Lagos, Enugu, and Kano, and its efficiency provided an example for women’s rights organizations in the continent to follow.
5. Part of NCNC delegation to London
In 1947, Nnamdi Azikiwe, the prominent leader of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons asked Funmilayo to join a Britain-bound delegation who were to discuss with British colonial officials the limitations of the 1946 Richards Constitution. The delegation was to advocate for greater African participation in the governing of the country. Funmilayo was the only woman in this delegation.
6. Representative at the 1950 Conference Proceedings
In 1949, inspired by her fearless advocacy, Abeokuta citizens nominated Kuti to represent them at the provincial level of the General Constitutional Conference scheduled for January 1950.
This historic conference aimed to gather the views and aspirations of Nigerians from all walks of life, fostering a nationwide discussion on drafting a new constitution. Kuti’s nomination attested to her status as a champion of the people, and she was the sole woman to deliberate on the proceedings at the provincial level. The conference held immense significance, as its outcomes birthed the 1951 MacPherson Constitution.
7. Founded the Federation of Nigerian Women’s Societies and the Commoners People’s Party
In 1951, Funmilayo Kuti founded the Commoners’ People’s Party, after running for the regional assembly as a candidate for the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). She lost twice, quit, and then established The Commoners’ People’s Party to have another go at her political ambition. She lost again, but her party placed third, trailing the Action Group and NCNC.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Women’s Union became the Federation of Nigerian Women’s Societies and clamored for women’s political inclusion.
8. Member of the Order of the Niger
In 1965, Funmilayo’s contribution to nation-building was recognized with the prestigious honor of membership in the Order of the Niger. This distinguished order, one of the two highest civilian awards in the country, is bestowed upon illustrious statespeople, politicians, and individuals who have rendered exceptional service and merit to the nation.
9. Awarded An Honorary Doctorate From the University of Ibadan
In 1968, in recognition of her contributions to national development, the University of Ibadan awarded Funmilayo an honorary doctorate in Law.
10. The Only Nigerian Woman to Receive the Lenin Peace Prize
Funmilayo’s political activism earned her international acclaim and in 1971, she received the Lenin Peace Prize. Awarded in honor of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Russian Communist Party and the first Soviet leader, the Lenin Peace Prize was awarded to non-Soviet citizens who had demonstrated support for the Soviet Union. Four years before Funmilayo received it, the politician and writer Peter Ayodele Curtis became the first Nigerian to claim the prize. It has been won by prominent figures like W.E.B. Du Boi, Kwame Nkrumah, Bram Fischer, and Nelson Mandela who received it in 1990.
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