Beko Ransome-Kuti
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Dr. Bekolari Ransome-Kuti (2 August 1940 – 10 February 2006)
Early life
Ransome-Kuti was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria on 2 August 1940.
His mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, battled against indiscriminate taxation of women by the British colonial government. She was the first Nigerian woman to drive a car and was part of the team that negotiated Nigerian independence back then.
His father Oladotun Ransome-Kuti was an Anglican priest and founded the Nigerian Union of Teachers.
His brother Fela Kuti was a famous musician and activist who founded Afrobeat.
Early life
Beko attended Abeokuta Grammer School , he then later attended coventry Technical College and Manchester University where he became a Medical doctor.
Career and activism
Ransome-Kuti returned to Nigeria in 1963 upon obtaining his medical degree . He was deeply affected by the events of 1977 when soldiers under the orders of Olusegun Obasanjo's military government stormed his brother's (Fela Kuti)[1] 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.
In 1984, his brother, Fela Kuti was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison by the government of General Mohammed Buhari. Ransome-Kuti was also jailed and released in 1985 when Buhari was deposed by General Ibrahim Babangida.
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. He was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and freed in 1998 following the death of Sani Abacha.
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[2].
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[3]. He was against such gratitious display of wealth.
Death
Ransome-Kuti died 10 February 2006, at approximately 11:20 P.M. at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital[4], Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria at the age of 65 years from complications of lung cancer.