By Agba Jalingo
Apart from the generation of Margaret Ekpo and Funmilayo Ransom-Kuti, whom I didn’t have the privilege of meeting, Professor Bene Madunagu, and her cohorts, were arguably the fiercest, most cultured and most committed feminists that I ever encountered.
Benedicta or Prof. Bene, as she was fondly called, was a four time Chairman of ASUU UNICAL Branch, she was co-founder of the first contemporary feminist movement in Nigeria, WOMEN IN NIGERIA, WIN and also co-founder of Girls Power Initiative GPI, in Calabar.
According to her own personal account, the coalition to form Women In Nigeria WIN, evolved out of university sociology and political science lecturers study group at ABU in Zaria, with specific focus on the life of women in Nigeria and in 1982, the First Annual Women in Nigeria Conference was held in Zaria. It included presentations by Ayesha Iman, Bene Madunagu, Bilkisu Yusuf, Renee Pittin, Molara Ogundipe-Leslie, Theresa Nweke, amongst others.
The primary mission of WIN was to bring awareness and change regarding the widespread oppression and exploitation of women in Nigeria. WIN from the onset was seeking equality for both men and women who are oppressed in Nigeria, but emphasized that women are more particularly exploited. WIN linked oppression of women in Nigeria to the overall oppression witnessed by citizens and introduced class and gender dynamics in the struggle for women’s emancipation. There were not out for war with men.
Though it is a women’s right organization, WIN also fights for social and economic justice. At inception, male members constituted 30% of members. The organization did not consist of hateful misandrists who have no compassion or concordance with the fight for justice, but just bitter and vengeance driven characters who parade themselves today as feminists.
I and Jonathan Ugbal, visited Professor Benne and the husband, Professor Edwin Madunagu, both on their hospital beds in Calabar last month October 2024, and both were in wards opposite each other. I wondered if Benne or Mama B, were of the present generation of misandrists, whether she will still be with her life long husband after all these decades of persecution. They were both weak and frail but the energy in their love story was still potent and palpable. Prof. prayed for us.
As she departs this world at 77, I stand with a salute of honor to a woman of courage and excellence. A teacher, mother, builder, homer, our mummy and iron fisted woman who swam where men feared. A botanist of distinction and trail blazer with unassailability.
May the good Lord bring us more and more women of her mould and ilk, who will fight for the emancipation of women and not those who will fight men out of vengeance. Amandla Mama B.
