Beko Ransome-Kuti

Dr. Bekolari Ransome-Kuti (2 August 1940 – 10 February 2006) was a Nigerian medical doctor known for his work as a human rights activist.

Early life

Ransome-Kuti was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria. His mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti opposed indiscriminate taxation of women by the British colonial government. She helped negotiate Nigerian independence from Britain and is said to have been the first Nigerian woman to drive a car. His father Oladotun Ransome-Kuti was an Anglican priest and founded the Nigeria Union of Teachers. One of his brothers, Fela Kuti, was a famous musician and activist who founded Afrobeat; another, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, was also a medical doctor and an AIDS campaigner. Beko's son, Enitan, is a retired Nigerian Army Brigadier General who headed the Multinational Joint Task Force.

Ransome-Kuti attended Abeokuta Grammar School, 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 degree. He was deeply affected by the events of 1977 when soldiers under the orders of Olusegun Obasanjo's military government stormed his brother Fela Kuti's 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.