The 7th Alake of Egbaland, Oba Samuel Ademola relenquished his throne in the 3rd of January 1949 after a long disagreement with the Egba women.

The movement by this women was led by Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and her sister in law who Happens to be woke Soyinka's Mother, Eniola Soyinka. The conflict was caused by the I'll treatment and smoke tax imposed on the Egba women.

The 7th Alake of Egbaland who was the delegate of the British authority was forced out of the palace after years of protest by this courageous women.

Early Life

Funmi Ransome-Kuti was born on the 25th of October in 1900 to Daniel Olumuyiwa Thomas and Lucretia Omoyeni Adeosolu.

She was known by some as a political campaigner, teacher while others knew her as a traditional aristocrat and women's rights activist.


Funmilayo was indeed the most prominent female leader during her time and it's on record that she was the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria.

All Funmilayo's efforts in Female Political Activism made her to be referred as " The Mother Of Africa".

Ransome-Kuti was a powerful force behind the Nigerian women right to Voting.After successfully leading the campaign against that lead to the resignation of Alake of Egbaland in 1949, she was labelled as the "Lioness of Lisabi" for the role she played.

Education, Marriage and Family

Funmilayo was brought up by parents that knew the importance of education and she became the female student to have attended the Abeokuta Grammar School( she was called beere for this). After completing her studies in Abeokuta, she moved to England for more Education before returning to Nigeria to become a teacher.

She was married to the first president of the National Union of Teachers, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti. The marriage produced 4children; Olikoye, Beko, Fela and Dolapo.

Thanks for the article, hope to see more soon.

1918, the British Government introduced a system of direct taxation and installed a sole native authority headed by traditional rulers who acts as agents of the Government. This sole native authority is presently referred to as the Local Government and it headed by the then Alake who became power intoxicated. The Alake's abuse of power couldn't be checkmated because of the indirect rule system.


Note that before the British Colonial era, women participated actively in Nigeria's politics and they held titles like the Iyalode whose duty was to protect the women's interest. As soon as the British came into power, the women hardly participated in Politics because their positions lack the influence and power it had before.

Her Political Emergence

The fact that the Egba women had no single delegate in the "then" Native Authority Council pained them a lot because they were obliged to pay as much as one-half of the district revenue.

As if that wasn't enough, the approach used to collect the taxes was a detestable one, often through violence, maltreatment of women amongst others. This tax collecting approach made complains increase and it eventually got to a point where the women could no longer bear it. This Tax payment problem was what pushed Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti Political Career into Limelight.


She went further to establish a group Comprising of educated western middle class ladies known as Abeokuta Ladies Club in 1923. It was when this "Abeokuta Ladies Club" progressed into Abeokuta's women union that both the Alake's approach and colonial rule was challenged (at this point they could no longer pay the tax). The union pressured the Alake's office but nothing was done.

Fight and Victory against the Alake


1946, after a lot pressure, there was a mass refusal to pay tax by the Abeokuta Women Union but the Alake and British Authorities simply responded by increasing the tax rate for women which resulted in hundreds of women marching to the Palace.

On getting to the palace, Alake's response was that if there was any woman who felt the tax was too high should appeal individually.

So in January 1946, after several struggles that included the refusal to pay tax for two different years, Funmilayo wasal arraigned and banned from entering the palace for insulting the Alake and British Colonialists supported the move.


Four months after her ban, the Egba women at this point were ready to do away with the Alake and make their demands by all means. Their demand was simply that the Alake should be removed from office. So they demonstrated on the streets of EgbaLand undressed which was a Taboo in the Land.

As soon as they got to the palace, the district and resident officials of the the British Government were not allowed to leave the palace.

Meanwhile, as they protesting, they sang in Yourba:

"Alake, for a long time you have used your male part as a mark of authority that you are our husband. Today, we shall reverse the order and use our female part to play the role of a husband.”

Positive Result At The End Of The Struggle

In a bid to cool things off, in June of the same year, the Alake of Egbaland travelled to Jos for holiday. In his absence, he appointed a special committee to look into the women's complains and he also went further to suspend all woman taxation. He even agreed that the women should have a representative in the central committee.

Unfortunately, it was a little too late because the woman were no longer interested in his efforts to please them and they insisted that all they wanted was the renouncement of his throne, so their demonstration continued.

When Alake returned, as a hope of good fate he resigned his position as the head of the Sol Native Authority but this strong women of Egbaland insisted that he renounced the thrown and still continued in their demonstrations.

After this, the Egba Chiefs and members of the Egba Native Authority passed a resolution against the Sole Native Authority system and the "then" Alake was charged with corruption and abuse of power, so he was rejected as King.


On the 3rd of January,1949, the Alake abdicated the throne and the woman struggles for years yielded a Postive result. Therefore, Funmilayo and three other women from the Abeokuta Women executive council were all appointed to the Egba Central Council that replaced the Sole Native Authority. The women taxation system was also cancelled.

After the success of the Abeokuta Women Union, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti expanded the union across the fedration I'm Lagos, Calabar, Enugu, Abba, Kano, Benin and Ibadan. So the Union's name changed to Nigeria Women Union.
.

Thank you for this peace of history.

Heroine. this is the real slay Queen just like myself

Omo Ogun. Omo Oduduwa.


Women protests started from Oduduwa land.
Women Societies and Associations started from Oduduwa land
The fall of Nigeria's 1st Republic started from Oduduwa land.
The fall of Nigeria's 2nd republic also started from Oduduwa land.

If anyone any group of people wants the fall of this current republic, let them start it from their own land.

Ok

omoiyamayor:
Thanks for the article, hope to see more soon.

Happy someone is learning!!

LivingSage:
Heroine. this is the real slay Queen just like myself

The "just like myself" part of your comment cracked me up. But who I'm I to question your opinion of yourself. There is a Yoruba adage that says "beayan o yin mi, ma yin'ra mi" (If no one praises me, then I will appreciate myself)

[s]

LivingSage:
Heroine. this is the real slay Queen just like myself

[/s]