Madam Tinubu

Efunroye Tinubu was born around 1805 in Ojokodo, Egbaland. Possessing formidable commercial genius and administrative charisma, she built a massive trading empire in Badagry and Lagos, trading in salt, palm oil, tobacco, and European firearms.

Tinubu played a decisive kingmaker role in Lagos royal succession politics, installing Oba Akitoye in 1851. When British colonial consul Benjamin Campbell sought to impose British monopolistic controls over coastal commerce, Tinubu fiercely opposed foreign economic subjugation. Expelled from Lagos in 1856, she established herself in Abeokuta, where she bankrolled the Egba army with modern firearms and ammunition, decisively repelling the Dahomey invasions in 1864 and being conferred the supreme title of Iyalode of Egbaland.