Just yesterday evening
the CBN governor gave
the news that by next
year, 5000 naira note will
introduce to the Nigeria
economic system. He also state that the face of 3
women will.
365naijanews.com
profile the historical
personalities due to be
the face of the
proposed mega
currency note.

Margaret Ekpo
(1914-2006)

Margaret Ekpo was a
women’s rights activist
and social mobiliser who
was a pioneer female
politician in the First
Republic. She was a leading member of a class
of traditional Nigerian
women activists, many of
whom rallied women
beyond notions of ethnic
solidarity. Ekpo played major roles
as a grassroots and
nationalist politician in
Aba, Abia State in an era
when the political space
was dominated by men. She was Born in Creek
Town, Cross RiverState,
Ekpo could only attain
standard six before the
death of her father halted
her dream for further education. Yet, the
woman who got married
to a doctor, John Ekpo, in
1938, later had the
opportunity to study
abroad at Rathmines School of Domestic
Economics (now DIT
Aungier Street), Dublin.
She got a diploma in
domestic science and on
her return to Nigeria, she established a Domestic
Science and Sewing
Institute in Aba.

Her first direct
participation in political
association was in
1945.Her husband was
indignant withthe colonial
administrators treatment of indigenous Nigerian
doctors but as a civil
servant, he could not
attend meetings to discuss
the matter.Margaret Ekpo
then attended meetings in place of her husband. The
meetings were organised
to discuss the
discriminatory practices
of the colonial
administration in the city and to fight cultural and
racial imbalance in
administrativepromotions.
She later attended a
political rally and was the
only woman at the rally, which saw fiery speeches
from Mbonu Ojike, Nnamdi
Azikiwe and Herbert
Macaulay. By the end of
the decade she had
organised a Market Women Association in
Aba to unionise market
women in the city. She
used the association to
promote women
solidarity as a platform to fight for the economic
rights of women,
economic protections and
expansionary political
rightsof women.

As part of her activism,
she, in the 1950s, teamed
up with Funmilayo
Ransome Kuti to protest
killings at an Enugu coal
mine, the victims were leaders protesting colonial
practices at the mine. In
1953, she was nominated
by the National Council of
Nigeria and the
Cameroons to the regional House of Chiefs and in
1954, she established the
Aba Township Women’s
Association. As leader of the new
market group, she was
able to garner the trust of
a large amount of women
in the township and turn
it into a political pressure group. By 1955, women
in Aba had out numbered
men voters ina city wide
election. She won a seat into the
Eastern Regional House of
Assembly in 1961. A
position that allowed her
to fight for issues
affecting women at the time. In particular, were
issues on the progress of
women in economic and
political matters, especially
in the areas of
transportation around major roads leading to
markets and rural
transportation in general. After a military coup
ended the First Republic,
she took a less prominent
approach to politics. In
2001, the Calabar Airport
was named after her.

Hajia Gambo Sawaba
(1933-2001)

Gambo Sawaba was a
vocal and radical politician
and activist who was
a supporter of the
Northern Elements
Progressive Union during the First Republic. According to Nigerian
Wiki , she was one of the
early members of NEPU in
Zaria, then the party
identified with the
working class and poor and was manned by their
main support base. Her political activities
during the period earned
her persecutions from
both the colonial
authorities and the native
administrations which resulted in her being
incarcerated for more
than a dozen times. She
was also known for some
of her charitable causes
and also for her views on women’s liberationin the
arena of politics. Sawaba’s first political
incident with the law
occurred in Kano where
she was sent to help NEPU
to canvass for women
support.

As soon as the reports of
her activities reached the
emir, she was arrested
and tried by an Alkali
court. She was convicted
and sent to prison where a certain warden deemed
to be a lesbian was
accused of misusing her
powers.Sawaba used
some of her tricks to get
the warden fired. After her release, she went
public with the appalling
prison conditions that also
got her and a a reporter
arrested again. She was
later asked to leave Kano by the Emir.

Through the First
Republic, Sawaba
continued with her
political activities
sometimes suffering humiliating punishments
from oppositions thugs.
She supported women’s
right to vote and was
elected leader ofthe
women’s wing of NEPU.

Sawaba was born to the
family of Fatima and Isa
Amarteifo. Herfather was
of Ghanaian origin while
her mother was from
Nupeland. Gambo Sawaba was born
in 1933, initially she was
called Hajaratu but
because shewas born
after a set of twins, she
came to be known as Gambo. Her last name was
supposedly given to her
by Mallam Gambo Sawaba,
an outstanding member
of NEPU in Zaria who was
twice elected tothe Zaria City Council.

Funmilayo Ransome-
Kuti (1900-1978)

Born Francis Abigail
Olufunmilayo Thomas to
the family of Daniel
Olumeyuwa Thomas and
Lucretia Phyllis Omoyeni
Adeosolu, legendary Funmilayo was the
mother of the late fiery
musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti ; activist physician Beko Ransome-
Kuti; and Professor
Olikoye Ransome-Kuti,a
doctor and former health
minister of Nigeria. She was a teacher, political
campaigner, women’s
rights activist and
traditional aristocrat.

She served with distinction as
one of the most prominent leaders of her
generation. Ransome-Kuti’s political
activism led to her being
described as the doyen of
female rights in Nigeria, as
well as to her being
regarded as “The Mother of Africa.”

She was a very
powerful force
advocating for the
Nigerian women’s right to
vote . She was described in
1947, by the West African Pilot as the “Lioness of
Lisabi” for her leadership
of the women ofthe Egba
clan that she belonged to
on a campaign against
their arbitrary taxation.

That struggle led
to the abdication of the
Egba high king Oba
Ademola II in 1949.

Born on 25 October 1900,
in Abeokuta, her father was a sonof a returned
slave from Sierra Leone,
who traced his ancestral
history back to Abeokuta
in what is today Ogun
State, Nigeria. She became a member of the Anglican
Faith, and soon returned
to the homeland of his
fellow Egbas, Abeokuta.

Ransome-Kuti received
the national honour of
membership in the Order
of Nigeria in 1965.
Throughout her career,
she was known as an educator and activist. She
and Elizabeth Adekogbe
provided dynamic
leadership for women’s
rights inthe ‘50s.

She founded an organisation for women in Abeokuta,
with a membership tally
of over 20,000 individuals
spanning both literate and
illiterate women. Apart from campaigning
for women votes, she
founded the Egba or
Abeokuta Women’s Union
along with Eniola Soyinka
(her sister-in-law and the mother of the Nobel
Laureate Wole Soyinka).

This organisation is said to
have once had a
membership of 20,000
women. Among other things, Fumilayo
Ransome-Kuti organised
workshops for illiterate
market women. She
continued to campaign
against taxes and price controls. Prior to independence she
founded the Commoners
Peoples Party in an
attempt to challenge the
ruling NCNC, ultimately
denying them victory in her area. She got 4,665
votes to NCNC’s 9,755,
thus allowing the
opposition Action Group
(which had 10,443
votes)to win. She was one of the delegates that
negotiated Nigeria’s
independence with the
British. They also plan to
convert the N5, N10 and
N20 notes to coins next
year! SHARE YOUR VIEW ON
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it seems this is about women empowerment