By Chido Onumah
On Friday, January 17, 2025, the Left, comprising Marxists, socialists, feminists, progressive academics, and humanists, will converge on the ancient city of Calabar for the interment of Prof Benedicta ‘Bene’ Madunagu, who died on Tuesday, November 26, 2024. Prof. Bene Madunagu, known to different people as Comrade Bene, Mumsy B, Auntie Bene, among other endearing names, was the quintessence of the struggle for human progress.
In terms of my upbringing, apart from my mother, this exceptional feminist was the most consequential woman in my life. I had the great honour of meeting her in the late 1980s as a student at the University of Calabar. I had joined the Movement for Progressive Nigeria (MPN), a revolutionary students’ movement on campus, which she and Comrade Edwin Madunagu, her friend, Comrade, and spouse, had founded in 1977 to ground students politically and ideologically.
Comrade Bene opened her home to us, provided meals and reading materials. I remember Comrade Bene for her forthrightness and courage. Without her, I would not have graduated from the university. In 1989, during Comrade Bene’s tenure as Chair of the University of Calabar Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)—the first and only female chair of ASUU, UniCal Branch—when the union was confronting the dictatorship of General Ibrahim Babangida, I had run into trouble with the school administration.
Earlier that year, I had been elected as one of three vice-presidents of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), the umbrella body of Nigerian students. It was under the leadership of Opeyemi Bamidele, now the majority leader of the Nigerian Senate. With the dictatorship of General Babangida in full swing, vice chancellors in the country’s universities were taking a cue from the self-styled “evil genius.” Authorities at the university of Calabar had proscribed student unionism. They not only banned certain category of students from contesting elections, they set out to handpick those to lead the union.
As Vice President (Special Duties) of NANS, I had the responsibility of bringing national attention to the egregious folly of UniCal authorities and the need for Nigerian students to oppose it, which was exactly what I did. I issued a press statement on NANS letterhead detailing (including naming names) the plot and the consequences for the university. The release caused so much uproar that the military governors of Cross River and Akwa Ibom called a special security meeting and also met with the Obong of Calabar, the traditional ruler and custodian of the culture of the Efik people. In what looked like the calm before the storm, the university sent an official vehicle to Owerri, Imo State, to fetch an older cousin to admonish me.
My cousin arrived Calabar, spoke with me about my, according to the university, “attempt to destabilise not only the university, but to cause disaffection between indigenes of Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.” The verdict was that I had to be dismissed without facing any “disciplinary panel.” I don’t know where that decision was taken, but some of those who had been part of the conspiracy had teased me repeatedly about that prospect. A couple of days later, Comrade Bene called me to her office and confirmed the threat. She asked me if the details of the press statement were factual, to which I answered in the affirmative. She assured me that nobody would dismiss me under her watch without due process. I left feeling elated. A few days later, because of the intervention of Comrade Bene, a “disciplinary panel” made of apologists of the vice chancellor was hurriedly put together. After weeks of “trial,” I was exonerated when it became evident that there was indeed a conspiracy hatched by the vice chancellor and carried out by his deputy to hijack the Students Union Government (SUG) of the university.
Four years ago, on May 15, 2021, when Comrade Eddie turned 75, in a rare gesture that epitomized a life of service, he and Comrade Bene handed over their “combined archives and libraries” to the Nigerian Left. This bequest, a product of over five decades of collection led to the creation of the Socialist Library and Archives (SOLAR); perhaps, the single largest collection of Left literature on the continent. Comrade Bene’s ill-health was a painful experience for her immediate and extended families, which include the Nigerian Left, who rallied to ensure she had the best chance of a dignified life. In this regard, I would like to acknowledge the profound solidarity of Comrades Biodun Jeyifo (BJ) and Kayode Komolafe (KK).
In 2012, at the age of 65, Comrade Bene retired as a professor in the Department of Botany, University of Calabar, Cross River State. She “contributed immensely to international women’s activism on development, linking the experiences of Nigerian and African women to the broader global struggles for women’s equality and against neo-liberalism.” For about two decades, she led Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI), an NGO that she co-founded with Grace Osakue in 1993, to pioneer sexuality, sexual and reproductive health and rights education for adolescent girls. Through education and training, GPI has “encouraged hundreds of young women to stand up for their rights and to understand and choose the identity of ‘feminist’.”
Comrade Bene’s humour was infectious and she had a unique way of driving home her point that would make the uninitiated very uncomfortable. In her tribute, Ayesha Imam, with whom Comrade Bene served in the executive committee of Women In Nigeria (WIN) noted, “Bene was warm-hearted and generous. But she did not suffer fools gladly and was often earthy in her responses. Told cooking is for women, she retorted, ‘And is it her vagina she will use to cook soup?’ Informed that analysis and policymaking are for men, she responded that ‘he must have made that analysis with his penis’.”
Comrade Bene had no reservations about her position as revolutionary feminists. “I am an absolutely confirmed feminist, with no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts,” she argued. “I am a feminist by choice and conviction, passionate about total enjoyment of sexual and reproductive health and rights, human freedoms and expression of one’s sexual identity without restriction but with information and services to do so in a healthy way. I am passionate about combating gender discrimination and insensitivity in whatever forms. I am a committed human rights defender and work in defence of victims of sexual abuse and all other forms of violence against women and girls.”
“In our daily work as feminists, we face male chauvinism arising from a fear of women sharing the same decision-making seats as men. We are bombarded by this excuse of ‘culture’ which is rarely called upon except when it is used to enforce sexism, the suppression of female sexuality and the oppression of women. As feminists, we are working collectively to ensure that all African women and girls are able to live safe, healthy lives and to make informed and empowered choices about their own bodies.”
Fifty years ago this year, in Lagos, Comrade Bene was among a group of young Nigerians, including Comrades Biodun Jeyifo (BJ) and Edwin Madunagu (Eddie) who “resolved and committed themselves to the revolutionary transformation of Nigeria on the platform of workers’ power, popular democracy and socialism.” Though that group of patriotic and progressive Nigerians is one person less today, it is heartwarming that Comrade Bene, even in ill-health, “remained faithful to the 1975 Lagos landmark resolution and its 1977 landmark re-endorsement in Calabar.”
Adieu, Comrade Bene, Mother of the Nigerian Left!
