Beko Ransome-Kuti: Difference between revisions
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==Early life== |
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{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}Ransome-Kuti was born in [[Abeokuta]], [[Nigeria]]. His mother [[Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti]] opposed indiscriminate taxation of women by the [[United Kingdom|British]] colonial government. She helped negotiate [[Nigeria#Post-independence|Nigerian independence]] from Britain and is said to have been the first Nigerian woman to drive a car.<ref name="Guardian obituary">Shola Adenekan, [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/feb/15/guardianobituaries.mainsection "Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti - Nigerian doctor, bold human rights campaigner and prisoner of conscience" (obituary)], ''The Guardian'', 15 February 2006.</ref> His father [[Ransome-Kuti family|Oladotun Ransome-Kuti]] was an [[Anglican]] priest and founded the [[Nigeria Union of Teachers]].<ref name="Guardian obituary" /> One of his brothers, [[Fela Kuti]], was a musician and [[Activism|activist]] who founded [[Afrobeat]]; another, [[Olikoye Ransome-Kuti]], was also a medical doctor and an [[AIDS]] campaigner.<ref name="Guardian obituary" /> Beko's son, [[Enitan Ransome-Kuti|Enitan]], is a serving Nigerian Army Senior Officer who was former Commander of the [[Multinational Joint Task Force]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} |
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Ransome-Kuti attended [[Abeokuta]] Grammar School, [[Coventry Technical College]], and [[Manchester University]], where he became a medical doctor.<ref>{{Cite web|title=News, sport and opinion from the Guardian's US edition {{!}} The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref> |
Ransome-Kuti attended [[Abeokuta]] Grammar School, [[Coventry Technical College]], and [[Manchester University]], where he became a medical doctor.<ref>{{Cite web|title=News, sport and opinion from the Guardian's US edition {{!}} The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 14:44, 25 May 2020
Dr. Bekolari Ransome-Kuti (2 August 1940 – 10 February 2006) was a Nigerian medical doctor known for his work as a human rights activist.
Early life
Ransome-Kuti attended Abeokuta Grammar School, Coventry Technical College, and Manchester University, where he became a medical doctor.[2]
Career and activism
Ransome-Kuti returned to Nigeria in 1963 upon obtaining his degree. He was deeply affected by the events of 1977 when soldiers under the orders of Olusegun Obasanjo's military government stormed his brother Fela Kuti's[3] nightclub, destroyed his medical clinic and killed his mother. He became chairman of the Lagos branch of the Nigerian Medical Association and its national deputy, campaigning against the lack of drugs in hospitals.[4]
In 1984, Fela was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison by the government of General Muhammadu Buhari.[5] Ransome-Kuti was also jailed, and his medical association was banned.[6] He was released in 1985 when Buhari was deposed by General Ibrahim Babangida; Babangida then invited him to participate in the government.[7]
Ransome-Kuti helped to form Nigeria's first human rights organization, the Campaign for Democracy, which in 1993 opposed the dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. In 1995, a military tribunal sentenced him to life in prison for bringing the mock trial of Olusegun Obasanjo to the attention of the world.[6] He was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International[8] and freed in 1998 following the death of Sani Abacha.[6]
Ransome-Kuti was a fellow of the West African College of Physicians and Surgeons, a leading figure in the British Commonwealth's human rights committee, chair of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights and executive director of the Centre for Constitutional Governance.[5]
Non-conformist
Ransome-Kuti never went to Nigerian funerals or weddings, notable for the huge sums of money that is often spent by families at such occasions, at which people were lauded for how much money they stuck on musicians and dancers ("spraying"). He was against such gratuitous display of wealth.[citation needed]
Death and legacy
Ransome-Kuti died 10 February 2006, at approximately 11:20 P.M. at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria at the age of 65 from complications of lung cancer.[9] The state government honoured him with a statue in 2010.[10]
References
- ^ "Military Wiki". military.wikia.org. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
- ^ "News, sport and opinion from the Guardian's US edition | The Guardian". the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
- ^ Biography of Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938-1997)
- ^ "News, sport and opinion from the Guardian's US edition | The Guardian". the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Guardian obituarywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Patrick Smith, "Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti - Nigerian human rights campaigner" (obituary), The Independent, 14 February 2006.
- ^ Falola, Toyin and Matthew M. Heaton. A History of Nigeria, p. 217.
- ^ "Nigeria: Medical concern: Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti", Amnesty International, 18 September 1995.
- ^ Obituary in Vanguard. Archived June 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Lagos honours late Beko Ransome-Kuti, unveils statue", Vanguard, 11 February 2010.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1940 births
- 2006 deaths
- People from Abeokuta
- Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Nigeria
- Deaths from cancer in Nigeria
- Deaths from lung cancer
- Nigerian activists
- Yoruba activists
- Ransome-Kuti family
- Nigerian medical doctors
- Yoruba physicians
- Nigerian prisoners and detainees
- Alumni of the University of Manchester