Efunporoye Osuntinubu Olumosa (often referred to as Efunroye Tinubu or madam Tinubu) was a shrewd and ambitious Nigerian business tycoon who wielded enormous economic power across Western Africa and political power in Abeokuta and Lagos.

Tinubu was born in the Ojokodo forest area of Egbaland. Her father’s name was Olumosa. She was allegedly of Owu ancestry, either through her maternal or paternal side. Madam Tinubu was reportedly married multiple times.

Born in Abeokuta in the early 1800s, she married and had two sons, but her husband passed away soon after. Newly a widow and single mother, she started trading tree bark and leaves to make a living. She had learned valuable market skills from her grandmother, Osunsola, who traded in tree bark, roots, herbs, and leaves. She also learned business skills from her mother, Nijeede, who had been a food seller

In 1833, Tinubu remarried Adele, an exiled Oba of Lagos, and began to amass significant political and economic influence. The two later moved to Badagry, where Tinubu, using her husband’s connections, built a thriving business empire by trading slaves for salt and tobacco with European merchants.

When Adele regained power in 1835, Tinubu returned to Lagos. Unfortunately, Adele died just two years later in 1837, making her a widow for the second time.

She helped install Adele’s son, Oluwole, as the new king and married his military advisor, Yesefu Bada.  She also continued to expand her trade network by monopolizing slaves and palm oil, and offering firearms obtained from the Europeans, which increased her wealth during the Yoruba Wars of the 1840s and 1850s.

After the accidental death of Oluwole, Tinubu arranged for her brother-in-law, Akintoye, to take the throne in Lagos. He in turn rewarded her with ownership of valuable stores in downtown Lagos. She made other investments in Lagos’s business district and built a huge personal residence to reflect her new status. Tinubu was also rumored to own three hundred sixty personal slaves. By 1845, as European nations repudiated slavery and turned to commercial crops from West Africa, she expanded her empire by controlling the major new items of commerce: palm oil, coconut oil, and cotton.

Tinubu now established foreign trade alliances and brokered deals with European and Brazilian political and military leaders. She was the major conduit in Lagos between European traders and merchants from throughout the Nigerian backcountry.

Tinubu and Slave Trading

Madam Tinubu as she’s fondly known, played a key role in the war against Dahomey and was honoured with the title of Iyalode of Egbaland, the highest chieftaincy title for women.

Her stance on slave trading is explored in her biography, Madame Tinubu: Merchant and Kingmaker, written by Nigerian historian Oladipo Yemitan.

One notable incident in her life involved the alleged sale of a young boy into slavery, which she denied.

Another, the Amadie-Ojo Affair, details a failed slave trade deal where she said she would rather let 20 slaves drown rather than collecting half payment for them.

She also actively opposed colonial policies in Lagos and was deeply involved in king-making activities in Abeokuta, backing Prince Oyekan over Ademola for the title of Alake of Egbaland in 1879.

However, Tinubu fell from power in Lagos when she challenged British Consul Benjamin Campbell who railed against her economic hegemony and secret slave trading with Europeans and Brazilians. Tinubu in turn publicly castigated Campbell for his infringement on royal authority and sovereignty in Lagos. She organized a plot to remove Consul Campbell but before it could be implemented, Campbell confronted her with British gunboats in May of 1856 and demanded her exile from Lagos. In the face of superior British military power, Tinubu was forced back to Abeokuta. She nonetheless remained a major trader in the interior of Nigeria until her death in 1887.