Madame Tinubu: Slave Trader, Kingmaker, and the Lioness of Lagos

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Madame Tinubu: Slave Trader, Kingmaker, and the Lioness of Lagos

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In the mid-19th century, as the British Navy patrolled the Bight of Benin for slavers, one woman controlled the palm oil trade, the salt caravans, and the very lifeblood of Lagos. Her name was Efunroye Tinubu — known to history as Madame Tinubu. Born into a noble Egba family around 1810, she built a commercial empire from Badagry to Abeokuta, married three kings, and bankrolled the war machine that kept Oyo's remnants alive. But she also dealt in slaves, even after the trade was outlawed, and was finally exiled for her role in a plot to restore the slave-trading Oba Kosoko. This episode traces her rise from a cassava trader to the most powerful woman in the Lagos Colony, the alliances she forged with British consuls and Yoruba generals, and the legacy that still divides Nigerians today. We also explore her fierce rivalry with the Saro elite and her final days in Abeokuta, where she died a wealthy chief — but never a queen. #MadameTinubu #EfunroyeTinubu #LagosHistory #ObaKosoko #Badagry #Abeokuta #PalmOilTrade #SlaveTrade #JohnBeecroft #Saro #Egba #Yoruba #BightOfBenin #WestAfrica #19thCentury #WomenInHistory #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

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