Now that the CBN has made it public that Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti’s image will appear
on the new N5000 note, this may be a good time to find out how her life really ended.

During his lifetime, Fela was in the habit of telling everybody that cared to listen that
his mother was killed by Nigerian soldiers. He immortalized that claim in songs like
“Coffin for Head of State”, “Unknown Soldier” and “Beast of No Nation”. It is true that
“unknown soldiers” stormed Fela’s Kalakuta Republic in 1978 and threw his mother out of a
2nd floor window. But the question is “Did they really kill her?”. Well, according to an
American author, the answer seems to be no.

Recently, I was listening to a programme on National Public Radio called The Kojo Nnamdi
Show (Kojo is a Guyanan-American). During an interview segment with an American author who
wrote a book on African Musicians, Kojo remarked that Fela’s mother was killed by Nigerian
soldiers. The author disagreed saying that was not the case. He admitted that Fela’s
mother was thrown out of the window by Soldiers but noted that she died some months
after that incident.

I have seen a picture of Fela’s mother sitting on a hospital bed, alert though with a
bandaged leg. I don’t know if the picture was taken after that incident. If that’s the
case, then the author may be correct. However, Wikipedia is reporting that Fela’s mother
slipped into a coma after the attack. There is no point in asking what really happened
since none of us was there. A better question should be: Who do you believe? The American
author or Fela?

P.S: I have searched for the picture of Fela's mother in the hospital on Google Images but
can't find it. If anybody has it, please post it here. It may shed some light on her condition
before her death.

Update: Below is a picture of Fela's mother after the attack. Apparently, she was
not in a coma as somebody wrote on Wikipedia. Picture courtesy of RevealedTV of Nairaland.

Final Update: This thread has provided some answers on the Kalakuta saga which were not
widely known. Here now is a summary:

Question: What brought the Police to Fela’s compound on that fateful day?
Answer: According to Kevwe (Fela’s wife), the Police were chasing a suspect (believed to
be Fela’s son) and he ran into the compound.

Question: Why did the Military become involved as this was a Police case?
Answer: Apparently, two Police Officers were electrocuted by Fela’s electric fence in
their attempt to gain entry into the compound. The other Police Officers then ran to a
nearby Army Barracks and got a reinforcement of military personnel.

Question: Was the attack on Fela’s compound approved by Theophilus Danjuma?
Answer: If Danjuma or other high ranking government officials were involved in this
matter, their involvement must have been after the fact. Certainly they did not start the
fight. It was a small matter that got out of hand as can be seen from item 1 above.

Question: Did the Military throw Fela’s mother out of the window?
Answer: Conventional wisdom has it that Fela’s mother was thrown out of a first floor
window. But there are strong indications to suggest that she actually jumped out of the
window to escape the fire that was engulfing the building.

Question: Who or what killed Fela’s mother?
Answer: In the absence of an autopsy report, we may never know. What we do know is that
she survived the attack on Kalakuta Republic and died a few months after. The picture
below shows Fela’s mother in the hospital after the incident. Her only injury appears to
be a broken leg. Her face does not look beat up.

OBJ killed her.

ask Fela Kuti

Ask her

#ransome, who killed u? Oya talk!#

#singing# "If you ask me.... Na who I go ask? the matter wey you see so.... ee tey wey ee start". Well, I presume that she may have died as a result of protracted illness from the inhumane treatment she got from the soldiers.

I found one pix already, but twas not easy o, i had to bribe google, before they released this
.
.
.
.
.
.
Well it seems as if this mod no like the pix wei google borrow me o, cos they jst keep hidding it...#walks out#

my guy i believe fela. The author no be wetin they tell am him go write. Was he there ? But fela was there.

An old lady in her 70's was thrown out of the second floor of a building. She would die months later; you don't need a doctor to tell you she died from her wounds, both physical and mental.

Danjuma gave the orders to the soldiers but OBJ is equally culpable because he was Danjuma's military boss and the president at the time.

Katsumoto: An old lady in her 70's was thrown out of the second floor of a building. . .

Danjuma gave the orders to the soldier but OBJ is equally culpable because he was Danjuma's military boss and the president at the time.

Not to minimize the gravity of the incident but I believe the second floor in this instance
is what is usually known as the first storey. That is not too high. One can survive falls
from such heights even an elderly woman.

I have never heard Fela blame Danjuma for his mother's death. Do you mean Shehu Yar'adua
who Fela frequently mentions?

I heard that she was thrown from a storey building.

BizBooks:

Not to minimize the gravity of the incident but I believe the second floor in this instance
is what is usually known as the first storey. That is not too high. One can survive falls
from such heights even an elderly woman.

I have never heard Fela blame Danjuma for his mother's death. Do you mean Shehu Yar'adua
who Fela frequently mentions?

First, it depends on what part of the body sustained the most injuries and not all injuries are visible.

Second, is there some sort of regular occurence like an olympic event where categories of people by age are thrown out through windows?

A simple fall is enough to kill old and frail people let alone being thrown out through a window.


It wasn't known, and it still isn't known publicly, for many years the officer who actually gave the order, so Fela simply laid the blame at the feet of the most senior officer.

Unknown soldier + unknown animal

Theophilus Danjuma, Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Musa Yar'adua.

ariyebaba: Unknown soldier + unknown animal

lol!

BizBooks:

Not to minimize the gravity of the incident but I believe the second floor in this instance
is what is usually known as the first storey. That is not too high. One can survive falls
from such heights even an elderly woman.

I have never heard Fela blame Danjuma for his mother's death. Do you mean Shehu Yar'adua
who Fela frequently mentions?

...Nice point my guy....ok...lets try this....get a couple of Soldiers to beat u at 70 wella, then we go ask them to toss u off second floor or even first floor....then we can know for sure whether u go die or not...seems fair right?

Am sure it was obj's idea to put her face on the new naira note #guiltyconscience

Guys, we don't need to dig deep to find those who are culpable for this crime. Fela criticized the govt in his songs. Those in Govt didnt like these songs. They wanted him shut up for good, and they sent in soldiers. Soldier threw Fela's aged mother out the window. she died a few months later. Now tell me, Who the bleep killed her? Isnt it the bleeping govt and those in charge?

Let us look at it from the legal prism. If you inflict a grevious bodily injury on anyone, and where the person dies within one year and one day, the law will still hold you culpable for the person's death. It may then be that instead of prosecuting you for murder, you may go in for manslaughter. In the extant case, the OP has just confirmed that the old woman died months after the act. If this were true, then the fact speaks for itself. An action in civil suit could still have been instituted and maintained against the military (although no one person could be identified for carrying out that dastardly act). Above position is the law.

The person that gave the order for the attack is obj,he should be held responsible.

@ OP

Why must we have to always act like slave to the white man or foreign Country like America? the child of the woman Fela said, the soldier killed her mother but you want us not to believe that but beleive some so called America writer right?
My friend don't be stupi.d and I don't pray that some soldier also throw your mom through the window and when she prpbably dies, an America writer can also write, no she was not killed. foolishness at it's peak.

My question is when do we black nations stop this advance slavering from colonial's master?

D wman was beatn,sm of d ladies plus ha maybe were defiled.at dat tym she was a hr activist in a millitary regme. thrown frm a wndow.evn if na corridor.sum d facts.who go kil am .u dnt nd an oragle 2 tl u dat she wuld die afta dat.she strng sef 2 no die on d spot.obj nd co knw wat hpnd.

She died during an abortion

Aids

Which kind Jamb Kweshion be Dis? Fela Killed Her.Fullstop!

BizBooks:

Not to minimize the gravity of the incident but I believe the second floor in this instance
is what is usually known as the first storey. That is not too high. One can survive falls
from such heights even an elderly woman.

I have never heard Fela blame Danjuma for his mother's death. Do you mean Shehu Yar'adua
who Fela frequently mentions?

Really?
Landing on your neck or back could result in a spinal cord injury, once that happens you are
a goner.

BizBooks:

Not to minimize the gravity of the incident but I believe the second floor in this instance
is what is usually known as the first storey. That is not too high. One can survive falls
from such heights even an elderly woman.

I have never heard Fela blame Danjuma for his mother's death. Do you mean Shehu Yar'adua
who Fela frequently mentions?

Wrong bro! The building which was and is still known as the kalakuta republic was INDEED a two storey building. It was shown last Saturday on NTA while running a short documentary on the life and times of the late afrobeat legen, Fela Anikulapo-Kuit

M M M: She died during an abortion

Aren't you just "special"?? Arrow!

'if sting u and you die next year then, count me among your killers' said ant.

BizBooks: Now that the CBN has made it public that Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti’s image will appear
on the new N5000 note, this may be a good time to find out how her life really ended.

During his lifetime, Fela was in the habit of telling everybody that cared to listen that
his mother was killed by Nigerian soldiers. He immortalized that claim in songs like
“Coffin for Head of State”, “Unknown Soldier” and “Beast of No Nation”. It is true that
“unknown soldiers” stormed Fela’s Kalakuta Republic in 1978 and threw his mother out of a
2nd floor window. But the question is “Did they really kill her?”. Well, according to an
American author, the answer seems to be no.

Recently, I was listening to a programme on National Public Radio called The Kojo Nnamdi
Show (Kojo is a Guyanan-American). During an interview segment with an American author who
wrote a book on African Musicians, Kojo remarked that Fela’s mother was killed by Nigerian
soldiers. The author disagreed saying that was not the case. He admitted that Fela’s
mother was thrown out of the window by Soldiers but noted that she died some months
after that incident.

I have seen a picture of Fela’s mother sitting on a hospital bed, alert though with a
bandaged leg. I don’t know if the picture was taken after that incident. If that’s the
case, then the author may be correct. However, Wikipedia is reporting that Fela’s mother
slipped into a coma after the attack. There is no point in asking what really happened
since none of us was there. A better question should be: Who do you believe? The American
author or Fela?

P.S: I have searched for the picture of Fela's mother in the hospital on Google Images but
can't find it. If anybody has it, please post it here. It may shed some light on her condition
before here death.

the woman died due to the complications she suffered from that fall.she is old for God's sake and got thrown from a building,kids who are strong die from stuff like that not to talk of a frail old woman,she was in the hospital with bandages and i know the pic u are talking of but you cant claim that when an old woman gets thrown from a building and she dies days after,fingers shouldnt be pointed at those who threw her

Na Unknown Soldiers a.k.a Zombies a.k.a Beast Of No Nation a.k.a Egbekegbe a.k.a Bad Society a.k.a Army Arrangement a.k.a I.T.T (International Thief Thief) a.k.a V.I.P (Vagabonds In Power)



...Who Kill Dele Giwa? Na Baban (If u put "Gida" na u sabi)

...Who Kill Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti? Na Oba (If u put "Sanjo" na u sabi)

....In Case You Never Know, Now You Know

One soldier's account i read sometimes ago claimed that Soldiers were sent Fela's compound and the fence which were wired to electricity was used to electrocute some of them putting on the generator when hey wanted to gain entrance to arrest one of Fela's boys. The resultant reaction was mobilisation of soldiers from near by barracks to seek revenge. She was met in e house and one thing led to another.....

BizBooks:

Not to minimize the gravity of the incident but I believe the second floor in this instance
is what is usually known as the first storey. That is not too high. One can survive falls
from such heights even an elderly woman.

I have never heard Fela blame Danjuma for his mother's death. Do you mean Shehu Yar'adua
who Fela frequently mentions?

Bro....how can u even surmise that a 70yr old woman would have no trouble surviving being thrown of the second floor of a buildingna Olympicsshe didn't decide she wanted to test the limits of her body by herself by jumping o....she was thrown off!!!by soldiers for that matter....do u think she was ushered off the building
Nothing justifies pushing a 70yr old woman down, talk less of throwing her off a building.we don't even know what the state of her health was before the incident, but we all have, or had old people in our lives and know that at 70, it ain't easy...and this ur talk abt second floor being known as first storey doesn't tally o...are u saying they didn't know the difference between ground floor, first floor and second??
And have u seen fela's house??i believe it's more than a storey high..
A 70 yr old woman is thrown off the second floor of a building??and she survivednaaaaa...she just ain't certified dead yet...