Before Lagos became a colonial capital, it was the independent kingdom of Eko, governed through palace institutions, kingmaking chiefs, war leaders, and powerful merchant families. Authority rested not only on royal lineage but on the ability of an Oba to balance these competing forces. The Lagos monarchy also carried older traditions linking its origins to Benin, through accounts tracing the dynasty to Ashipa and through long standing tributary and ritual ties that shifted in strength across generations.
By the early nineteenth century, Lagos had grown into a strategic coastal power. Its position on the Bight of Benin made it a key node in Atlantic commerce, a factor that would later draw increasing European attention. The kingdom’s internal politics, however, were already unstable before foreign intervention arrived.
1841, a succession dispute ignites
When Oba Oluwole died in 1841, the process of selecting his successor exposed deep divisions within the ruling elite. Kosoko, a prominent royal figure, was widely regarded as a strong contender. However, palace politics, opposition among influential chiefs, and disputes over legitimacy shaped the final decision. Akitoye was installed as Oba instead.
From the outset, Akitoye’s position was precarious. Lagos was not a kingdom where authority could survive without broad support from the chiefs and the commercial interests that sustained the city’s wealth. Kosoko did not disappear from the political scene. His exclusion hardened rivalries that would soon erupt into open conflict.
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Trade, power, and the reality of slavery in Lagos
By the 1840s, Lagos had become one of the most important ports in the region. Its economy was built on multiple streams of trade, including palm produce, firearms, and enslaved people. Slavery and slave trading were not marginal activities, they were deeply embedded in the political economy of the city and influenced alliances, military strength, and access to resources.
Akitoye ruled within this system. His supporters included influential merchants whose wealth and power were tied to trade networks spanning the Atlantic world. Among them was Efunroye Tinubu, a formidable commercial and political figure whose influence shaped Lagos politics for decades. Her career, like that of many coastal elites, reflected the complex realities of the era, where economic survival, political ambition, and shifting international pressure collided.
1845, Akitoye is forced out, Kosoko takes the throne
By 1845, opposition to Akitoye reached a breaking point. He was deposed and forced into exile, while Kosoko ascended the throne and ruled Lagos from 1845 to 1851. During Kosoko’s reign, Lagos continued to draw attention from Britain, which had intensified its campaign to suppress the Atlantic slave trade along the West African coast.
British officials increasingly viewed Lagos as both a commercial prize and a strategic obstacle. Diplomatic pressure mounted, but Kosoko resisted British demands to abandon the export slave trade and submit to restrictive treaties.
Britain enters the succession crisis
Akitoye’s exile coincided with this rising foreign pressure. Seeking to regain the throne, he looked for external support, while British officials sought a Lagos ruler willing to cooperate with their objectives. What followed was not a moral alliance but a convergence of interests. Britain wanted a treaty and influence over a key port. Akitoye wanted restoration and security.
This convergence set the stage for direct intervention.
December 1851, the bombardment of Lagos
In December 1851, after negotiations with Kosoko failed, British naval forces attacked Lagos in an operation later known as the Reduction of Lagos. The bombardment devastated the city’s defences and forced Kosoko and his supporters to flee on 28 December 1851. Shortly afterwards, Akitoye was brought ashore and reinstated as Oba under British protection.
The meaning of this event was unmistakable. The succession of the Oba of Lagos had been settled by naval guns. From that moment, Lagos politics could no longer be separated from British military power.
1 January 1852, the treaty that changed Lagos
On 1 January 1852, a treaty was signed between British representatives and the King and Chiefs of Lagos. The agreement abolished the export of enslaved people from Lagos territory, required the suppression of slave trading infrastructure, and granted British subjects freedom to trade. It marked a decisive shift in Lagos’s relationship with Britain.
While the treaty is often remembered as a moral milestone, its immediate effects were uneven. Long established commercial networks did not vanish overnight, and enforcement faced resistance and evasion. Yet politically, the treaty transformed British influence from external pressure into permanent presence.
1853, Akitoye dies, the pressure remains
Akitoye’s second reign was brief. He died on 2 September 1853 and was succeeded by his son, Oba Dosunmu. The struggle for Lagos did not end with his death. Kosoko continued to challenge the new order from his base in Epe, launching attacks against Lagos in August 1853 that brought fighting close to the palace itself.
These conflicts ended with the Treaty of Epe in 1854, under which Kosoko formally renounced his claims to Lagos and agreed not to disrupt trade. By then, British authority had become entrenched, ushering in the consular era that steadily eroded Lagos’s independence.
Burial, symbolism, and a kingdom’s shifting identity
Akitoye is commonly recorded as the first Oba of Lagos to be buried within the palace grounds at Iga Idunganran. Earlier Obas were traditionally said to have been buried in Benin City, reflecting historic ties between the two polities. Whether viewed as strict practice or symbolic tradition, Akitoye’s burial in Lagos marked a shift in royal identity, at a time when older external allegiances were giving way to new political realities shaped by foreign power.
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The road to 1861, from treaty to takeover
Akitoye did not cede Lagos to Britain, but the framework established during his restoration made that outcome increasingly likely. In 1861, British officials forced the issue. Oba Dosunmu signed the Treaty of Cession on 6 August 1861 under threat of bombardment, transferring sovereignty over Lagos Island to Britain while retaining the royal title under colonial rule.
Lagos ceased to be an independent kingdom. The turning point, however, lay years earlier, when a disputed succession invited foreign force and treaties converted intervention into control.
Author’s Note
Akitoye’s story shows how power reclaimed can still weaken a throne. His return restored his crown, but it also bound Lagos to forces that reshaped its future. Once outside power settled a local dispute, sovereignty became negotiable, and the consequences outlived the king who first accepted the bargain.
References
Robert Sydney Smith, The Lagos Consulate, 1851–1861, University of California Press.
Kristin Mann, Slavery and the Birth of an African City, Lagos, 1760–1900, Indiana University Press.
Treaty Between Great Britain and Lagos, 1 January 1852, historical treaty collections.
Lagos Treaty of Cession, 6 August 1861, historical treaty collections.
Treaty of Epe, 28 September 1854, historical treaty collections
