Ransome-Kuti, Olunfunmilayo (1900-1978)

Nigerian politician and women's rights activitist. In 1944 she established the Abeokuta Women's Union (later Nigerian Women's Union) and led campaigns against local administration and colonial taxation. She was appointed as the women's representative in the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC) delegation to London in 1947. Failing to gain the party's nomination in the 1959 elections, Ransome-Kuti put herself forward as an independent candidate but was unsuccessful.

She was born in Abeokuta, and educated at local mission schools and in the UK. After returning to Nigeria in 1923, she worked as a schoolteacher and became an active member of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT); she later established her own primary and secondary schools.