The committee for the funeral of Comrade Bene Madunagu, a revolutionary activist, scholar, and feminist who died on November 26, 2024, has announced that she will be buried on Friday, January 17, 2025.

According to a statement signed by Prof Biodun Jeyifo on behalf of the Prof Bene Madunagu Funeral Planning Committee, the late activist’s interment will be preceded by a celebration of her life and times on January 16. The programme will feature a feminist forum, a funeral conference, cultural performances, and tributes from comrades, friends, and well-wishers.

She was born Benedicta Afangide on March 21, 1947, to the family of Chief Michael Afangide of Afanga Esang in Abak Local Council of Akwa Ibom State and Madam Angelica Afangide of Ikwek, Afaha Obong, in the same council.

She was educated at the University of Lagos and the University of Ibadan. She began her academic career as an assistant lecturer at the University of Lagos before moving to the University of Calabar in 1976.

Comrade Bene, a professor of Botany, retired from the University of Calabar after years of mentoring generations of students in her department and ideologically influencing students in other faculties.

During her struggles for progress and a humane social order, she and her comrade and spouse, Dr Edwin Madunagu, were sacked from their positions at the university in 1978, alongside other scholars and activists in various universities and establishments. This occurred in the aftermath of the nationwide student protests against the “commercialisation of university education” by the military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo.

The protest, famously known in history as “Ali Must Go,” referenced the students’ call to remove the then Federal Commissioner for Education, Colonel Ahmadu Ali.

The sacked couple were fully reinstated by the government of President Shehu Shagari a few years later.

Undaunted, Bene remained active in the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), becoming the first female chairperson of the University of Calabar branch and a member of the union’s national executive. She was also affiliated with several scientific organisations, including the Botanical Society of Nigeria, the Science Association of Nigeria, and the Association of African Women for Research and Development.

She was a leading figure in the Nigerian Left, participating in various efforts to establish a formidable organisation of socialists, Marxists, and progressives aimed at offering alternatives for the future of Nigeria. Her commitment to popular democratic struggles was unwavering, and her consistency of purpose was exceptional.

As a Marxist, Bene was deeply engaged in the feminist movement nationally and internationally. She contributed to forming the feminist organisation Women in Nigeria (WIN). She also served as chairperson of the executive board of the Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI), an organisation dedicated to the health and empowerment of girls and women.

Bene received numerous awards, including recognition by Cross River State in 2005 as an “Erudite Scholar and Advocate of Equality and Girl Child Rights” and an award from the Centre for Reproductive Rights of the University of California in the United States. She was also a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation.

Bene is survived by her comrade and spouse of over 50 years, Edwin Madunagu; her children, Mrs Unoma Madunagu-Agrinya, Ikenna Madunagu, and Michael Madunagu; and her many comrades on the Nigerian Left.