WE-men of Nigeria
Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.
~Charlotte Whitton~
Women are wiser than men because they know less and understand more.
~James Thurber~
Women speak two languages - one of which is verbal.
~William Shakespeare~
Men are celebrated, but the most celebrated men are WE-men.
~Anonymous~
Before I start writing, let me quit being modest. The last quote wasn’t anonymously stated, it was me.
So now you know, do you still think it’s logical?
There’s no denying the fact that Women have been underrated. In the past, a woman’s voice was hardly heard. Our duty belonged in the kitchen, farm or on the delivery mat (or bed, if we could afford a hospital). Today, times have changed, though only in the eyes of a certain percentage like you and I, who are fortunate to witness and be part of civilization. Million others out there, still find themselves subject and helpless to the neglect and denial we have long been freed from.
So, in our dear country, who set the pace?
I have however researched and discovered a number of brave women who realized the necessity of expressing themselves and breaking out. These women shunned mediocrity, stood out and proved to the world that a woman was not just a rib taken out of Man.
You may not have heard some of these names before, and even though you had by chance heard, you had no inkling who they were or what they did. Some of these women were known for their heroic deeds and prowess; some for their exceptional abilities or skills, and others for standing for what was right, and fighting to be accepted in a world of prejudice.
I’ve brought them to you.
Do follow me, as I take you chronologically from the 12th century, through some of the most celebrated WE-men of Nigeria.
Moremi AJASORO
(Princess of the Yoruba)
This legend is well celebrated in the land of Ife (in Oyo state, Nigeria) for her heroic deeds and bravery.
Allow me relay her interesting story to you:
he people of Ife were at that time subject to fierce raids by the Igbos, who looked strange in battle that the Ifes thought they were not humans, but a visitation sent by the gods in punishment for some evil. In vain they offer sacrifices to the gods and the land was thrown into a state of panic.
Now the heroic Moremi, desiring to bring an end to this, decided to let herself be captured during one of the raids, so that she might be carried as a prisoner to the land of the Igbos and learn all their secrets. Bidding farewell to her husband and her little son, she went to a certain stream and promised the god of the stream that, if her attempt was successful, she would offer him the richest sacrifice she could afford.
As planned, she was captured by the Igbos and taken away as a prisoner. Moremi however, became a slave to the king, and on account of her intelligence and noble heart she soon gained the respect of all and rose to a position of importance.
In a short while, she had learnt all the secrets of her enemies and found that they were not gods but ordinary men. On going into battle they wore strange mantles of grass and bamboo fibre, and this accounted for their unnatural appearance. She also learned that because of these mantles of dry grass, they were much afraid of fire, and that if the Ifes were to rush among them with lighted torches, they would quickly be defeated.
As soon as it was possible, she escaped from the palace and returned to her own people. She was joyfully received, and shortly afterwards the Igbos were utterly defeated by the trick Moremi had suggested.
Moremi now went to the stream and made a great sacrifice of sheep, fowls, and bullocks; but the god of the stream was not satisfied and demanded the life of her son. Sorrowing, she was forced to consent, and sacrificed the handsome boy Ela. The Ifes wept to see this, and they promised to be her sons and daughters forever, to make up for her loss.
*The end*
Moremi’s exploits are quite exceptional. In our present day, this would have been considered a joke rather too expensive (..Just saying). Bottom-line, she saved her people, made them proud and created history).
Today, she is honoured. As a means of celebrating the sacrifice the princess made for her people, the Edi Festival is said to have then been introduced in Yorubaland. Various Halls of Residence in some Nigerian secondary schools and Universities have also been named in honour of the brave princess, Moremi.
QUEEN AMINA OF ZARIA
(1533-1610)
Famous for her bravery and strength, Amina was known to be the greatest warrior the people of hausaland ever had. (This is very commendable, I must say.)
At age sixteen, she became the heir apparent to her mother, the ruling Queen of Zazzau (now Zaria) at the time, whose reign was known for peace. But Amina however, chose to learn military skills from the warriors.
As her mother died, according to the custom, the reign was passed to her younger brother. Never-the-less, Amina had emerged as the leading warrior of Zazzau calvary, and her military achievements brought her great wealth and power. When her brother died after a ten-year rule, she became queen.
In her thirty-four year reign, she enlarged the domain of zazzau to its largest size ever. She also popularized the earthern city wall fortifications, and ordered the building of a defensive wall around each military camp she established. Towns grew within these protective walls, many of which are still in existence today.
(*Queen Amina gate, Zaria*)
Amina was just not any queen; she made an indelible mark in history. The tales of her exploits made her one of the most powerful women, not just in Nigeria, but in Africa as a whole. There is so much to learn from her remarkable story. Little wonder she is still being celebrated in songs as ‘A woman as capable as a man.’
Madam Efunroye TINUBU
(About 1805-1887)
For a few of you who assumed Tinubu Square was named after Bola Tinubu, read and stay corrected.
Madam Tinubu was a businesswoman, patriot, and an active adversary of the British Colonial Government of what is now Nigeria.
She lived in the 19th century and was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, to a trading family. After a period of trading apprenticeship under her mother, Tinubu went to Badagry, (the outskirts of Lagos), where despite her lack of formal education, she established a flourishing trade in tobacco and salt. The entreprising Tinubu expanded her trade, which brought her into contact with the European slave traders, with whom she dealt as a middleperson.
Over time, having realised the differences between domestic slaving and the inhumane treatment of slaves in Europe and the Americas she became an active opponent to all slave trading.
In 1846, Tinubu played hostess to the exiled King Akintoye of Lagos who sought refuge in Badagry; she used her influential position to inaugurate a pro-Akintoye movement dedicated to the eventual return of the king to the throne in Lagos. Thus commenced her involvement in the politics of Lagos, which was at the time dominated by men of wealth and education.
Madam Tinubu however, became the first Iyalode of the Egba. She is considered an important figure in Nigerian history due to her political significance as a powerful female aristocrat.
She died in 1887, at the height of her popularity. Today in Abeokuta, a monument stands in the town square named after her, Ita Iyalode (Iyalode Square), and Tinubu Square on Lagos Island, a place previously known as Independence Square, is also named after this great woman.
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was an African feminist, a Nigerian politician, a teacher, women's rights' activist, and founder of the Nigerian Women’s union. She was one of the most prominent women of her generation.
In the forties, she organised tax strikes and demonstrations to protect the interest of the women in Nigeria. One of these protests, which caused nation-wide and internationally sensation, came in history as the "Nigerian Women's struggle”.
Ransome Kuti’s political activism led to her being described as the doyen of female rights in Nigeria, as well as “Mother of Africa”. She was a very powerful force advocating for the Nigerian woman’s right to vote. She was also one of the few women elected to the House of Chiefs in the 1950s.
In 1978, she was thrown from a second floor window. She lapsed into a comma in February of that year, and died on the 13th of april, 1978, as a result of her injuries.
Kuti was the mother of the musician/activist- Fela Anikulapo kuti. She is noted as the first woman in Nigeria to drive a car and ride a bike.
Florence NWAPA
(1931 – 1993)
Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa was a Nigerian author. Her novel, Efuru (1966) is among the first English language novels by a woman from Africa.
She was the forerunner to a generation of African women writers. Whilst never considering herself a feminist, she is best-known for recreating life and traditions from a woman's viewpoint. In 1966 her book Efuru became Africa's first internationally published female novel in the English language (Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd). She has been called the mother of modern African literature. Later she went on to become the first African woman publisher of novels when she founded Tata Press.
She also is known for her governmental work in reconstruction after the Biafran war. In particular she worked with orphans and refugees. She also worked as a publisher of African literature and promoted women in African society.
Flora Nwapa died on October 16, 1993 in Enugu, Nigeria.
Buchi EMECHETA
(Florence Onye) Buchi Emecheta was born in 1944 to Igbo parents. Her father was a railway worker in the 1940s.
At a young age, Buchi Emecheta overcame many hardships to obtain her education in a time when educating girls was not a priority. She got married at sixteen and eventually joined her husband in London, where she was made to provide financially for an abusive husband and the children they kept having. To keep her sanity, Emecheta wrote in her spare time. However, her husband was deeply suspicious of her writing, and he ultimately burnt her first manuscript.
She later left him - she was 22 years old, alone, broke and had 5 children to take care of by herself, and thus had to go on welfare.
She was determined to rise from poverty, be a good mother, and get her college education. She got her Sociology degree while working and raising 5 kids, and later went on for an advanced degree. She also continued to write, and eventually became one of the best and most internally known women writers that Nigeria can boast of, writing books for both young and old, and getting her education while raising her children by herself.
Following her success as an author, Buchi Emecheta has travelled widely as a visiting professor and lecturer. From 1980 to 1981, she was senior resident fellow and visiting professor of English, University of Calabar, Nigeria and in 1982, she lectured at various other universities, including Yale University and the University of London.
KUDIRAT ABIOLA
(1951- 1996)
Kudirat Abiola, Wife of the President-elect of Nigeria, Chief Moshod Abiola, was born in 1951, in the northern Nigerian city of Zaria, where she also had her early education. Testimonies of her times at Muslim Girls High School, Ijebu Ode, indicate the evolution of a powerful mind that married the qualities of hard work with the diligence of an achiever, becoming the Head Prefect in her final year.
At 21, she married Chief Moshood Abiola in a union that produced seven children. Kudirat adopted many social causes and became a prime supporter of the educational programs of the Ansar-Ur-Deen movement in Nigeria. She was also a successful businesswoman, building a pharmaceutical company, amongst many other businesses, into a notable name in Nigeria.
Ordinarily tuned to private life, the military’s annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, which her husband had won, brought Kudirat into the pro-democracy movement.
The movement had its costs: in 1994, Moshood Abiola was incarcerated and kept in solitary confinement for claiming his presidential mandate. Despite the clear danger, Kudirat provided clear leadership in this period of general confusion. She stepped forward, convinced that the military’s actions amounted to a violation of the fundamental right of Nigerians to elect their government.
Her participation inspired new levels of activism in Nigeria’s pro-democracy movement. In the summer of 1994, Kudirat was actively involved in moving and sustaining the oil workers twelve-week strike against the military. The strike, which succeeded in isolating and weakening the government, was the longest in African history by oil workers. In December of 1995, when the pro-democracy groups decided to march for freedom in Lagos,
Kudirat joined such esteemed nationalists as Chief Anthony Enahoro at the forefront of the march, braving the bullets of government forces sent to intimidate them.
On June 4th 1996, a few days to the anniversary of the June 12 commemorative date when Nigerians resolved to vote out the military dictatorship, Kudirat’s life on earth ended, extinguished by assassins’ bullets.
She remains one leading activist Nigeria would never forget in a hurry.
Chief Bisi OGUNLEYE
Chief Bisi was a pioneer in the economic empowerment of women. She began helping women organize themselves by donating one month's salary to a group of rural women to use as seed money to start their own businesses. When loans were repaid, the money was invested in other groups.
In 1982, She founded the Country Women Association of Nigeria (COWAN), a rural women’s self-help organization in Nigeria, known for its women-designed programs in credit, agriculture and small business development. Now she has grown to over 1,400 groups across numerous states in Nigeria.
As a gifted advocate for the full participation of women in policy and decision making, and a long-time leader in the fight to free her country from poverty, hunger, malnutrition, environmental degradation and injustice, Mrs ogunleye is known for promoting the active involvement of Africans in development issues that affect them.
Christina ANYANWU
She is a Nigerian journalist, publisher author and politician, hailed as one of the female pioneers in Nigerian journalism and broadcasting. She was elected Senator for the Imo East (Owerri) constituency in 2007.
In May 1995, Anyanwu was arrested following the publication of a story about a failed coup d’etat against the government of Sani Abacha- whom she had refused to endorse as president. On 1st March, she and several Nigerian journalists were accused of being ‘accessories to facts of treason’.
She was prosecuted by a military court and sentenced to life imprisonment on 4th july 1995, later reduced to fifteen years in October 1995 following pressure from national and international human rights groups.
Shortly after her imprisonment, she received the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in journalism award, making news around the world. Two years later, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Anyanwu winner of the CPJ International Press Freedom Award, and in May 1998, she was awarded UNESCO’s Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
As one of the victims of Sani Abacha’s military rule, Christina Anyanwu set a exemplary role in an era where infringements of the rights of the journalists and freedom of the press were innumerable.
Mary ONYALI-OMAGBEMI
Mary, (born February 3, 1968) is a Nigerian sprinter who won the bronze medal in 4x100 metres relay at the 1992 Summer Olympics and in the 200 metres at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She also won in the 1994 Commonwealth games.
She performed especially well in the All -Africa games, winning a total of 7 individual medals in the short sprints. She won 100 metres in 1991, 1995 and 2003 and took a bronze medal in 1987. Gold medals in 200 metres were taken in 1987, 1995 and 2003. Furthermore, the Nigerian 4x100m relay team won all races between 1987 and 2003, at the African Games.
Born Mary Onyali, she took the name Omagbemi when marrying Victor Omagbemi.
She is very inspirational for many people. Her consecutive Olympic appearances from 1988 to 2004 made her the first Nigerian to compete at five Olympics.
There’s more, but time is not on our side. We still haven’t mentioned women like Bolanle Awe, Rebecca Ikpe, Major General Aderoke Kale, Dr Bene Madunagu, Grace Alele- Williams and a whole lot more We-men who made history in our dear country.
By the way, did anyone notice with me that the Yorubas seem to have been everywhere on this post? Closely followed by the Igbos?
…hmmn!!! One thing didn’t change though- They were all WE-men, who at some point in their lives, made decisions to create indelible marks in the sands of time.
Let me also add that these We-men were not entirely perfect, as they didn’t please everyone (well, who does?), but one thing to learn from every one of them is their enthusiasm and determination to rise above the average and do something unusual. Out of millions of women out there, they were dogged in their decision to stand out.
Today, we have a number of We-men who have followed in these footsteps.
Some are celebrated, and some die unrecognized, but history will always rolls its tape on the minds of the people’s lives they impacted upon.
I don’t know about you, but I want to make a difference. Someday, I want people to write my story and I’m sure you do too. So what are we waiting for fellow WE-MEN? LET’S DO SOMETHING!!!! ;)
Credits:
Wikipedia
google images
motherlandnigeria.com
cwo.com
whenweruled.com
cafeafricana.com
corbisimages.com
africaundisguised.com
