Our History-Oshodi Family

Our History-Oshodi Family

The throne of Lagos is linked to the Benin kingdom to whom they paid allegiance to until the late eighteenth century. It was “discovered by the Portuguese explorer, Sequeira in 1472 who gave it the name Lagos it is known to the locals as Eko a name given to it by its first king Oba Aromire .

Due to the natural topography it served as a place of refuge for Yoruba’s seeking shelter during the Yoruba internecine wars ,this role was surpassed by a more sinister one in the latter part of the eighteenth century, Prince Akinsemoyin the kings brother was exiled to Whydah where he meet with and traded with Portuguese slave traders on his return from exile he became the king of Lagos in 1704 and hung white flags off the beaches at the mouth of the channel which attracted the Portuguese traders and marked the first contact with the west. 

After the French revolution, in 1794 the French banned their traders from partaking in the trafficking of slaves and in 1807 the British parliament joined in and created the coffin squadron to enforce the ban. This forced the slavers to seek cover and abandon the exposed beaches of Dahomey and Badagry for the camouflage of the Lagos lagoon .With the coming of the European slave ships Lagos became a prosperous slave port for the dealings in this nefarious and barbaric art. In 1841 Oba Akitoye ascended on to the throne in Lagos and tried to bring an end to slave trading by a ban on the act, the Lagos slave merchants most notably Madam Tinubu resisted the ban and deposed the king who was deported to Wahday further along the coast in present day Sierra Leone and installed his brother Oba Kosoko while Oba Akitoye was on exile he met with and got the backing of the British to return and claim his throne this he did and in 1851 he was reinstalled, on his return to the throne he set about creating a modern city through various means , he opened the borders and invited settlers from present day Sierra Leone and Liberia which were in the main former slaves , ceding land to them on the island of Lagos , he sent his emissaries to brazil to invite them to return to the mother land and bring with them their skills to help develop it ,he also gave them land to settle on , and the freedom to carry out their trade , these three things were to lead to a period of growth and development of the people and the land rivaled only by the oil boom of the mid seventies ,until this time the people were living in darkness and fear bound by allegiance to far away and barbaric kings who in other to maintain their regular supply of slaves and their courts would allow no development by the people whatsoever , you were not allowed to grow pepper unless you had a license from the king , you were not allowed windows , and a host of other meaningless laws designed to keep the people in bondage , at about this time the crown was newly converted to Islam , this and the influx of the various settlers which owed no allegiance to any far away king or god helped break the bounds that had held the Lagosians down coupled with the fact that the sky failed to fall when the émigrés broke all previous rules and with the backing of her majesty's navy a new class of Lagosians the merchant princes were born and Lagos soon became the preeminent city on the gulf surpassing other port cities like Calabar and Koko.

However the support of her majesties navy was a two edged sword and the Lagosians were to witness the other side when in 1861 the British navy attacked the city of Lagos , after a cunning but brief defense of the city when the sand banks in the entrance to the lagoon were disguised costing the British the frigate name the Oba of Lagos Oba Dosunmu was invited aboard the name under the glare of the British fleet with all guns pointed at the city and forced power to the British crown Lagos on the 6th of august 1861 became a colony of the British crown the Oba will retain his title but had lost most of his power a governor Mr. HS Freeman was appointed he was succeeded by governor sir john Glover who was instrumental in reinstating Oba Akitoye to the throne many years ago and was affectionately called Oba Golober by the Lagosians in 1906 Lagos became the capital of southern Nigeria and in 1914 at the creation of the country by lord Lugard former governor of Lagos with the amalgamation of north and southern Nigeria from areas with treaties with the British crown Lagos became the capital of Nigeria till date when the seat of government moved to Abuja.
The present Oba of Lagos is HRH Oba Akilu.
The present governor of Lagos is his Excellency Governor Raji Babatunde Fashola