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One time Kosoko mistakenly sold his family member into slavery. When he realised, he wrote to his Portuguese dealer asking him not to sell that particular guy. The dealer wrote back that by the time he got the letter, he had already sold the guy
As at 1939, the cost of running Nigeria among all of Britain’s African colonies was the second lowest after... Malawi (then Nyasaland)
Came across this chap. Spooked me a bit as his name is about one vowel off the Ijebu side of my family’s name en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osifekunde
Awujale Adesanya (Gbelegbuwa II) - installed in 1933 but had his right arm amputated in 1934 when Yesufu Idimota - a supporter of the deposed Awujale Adenuga - tried to shoot him but only got his arm. He reigned with one arm till he died in 1959
In 1900, the interest rates on loans in Lagos were 10% per annum on average. ‘Risky’ loans cost 15%
The first man to write in the Tiv language - Akiga Sai. Manuscript fortuitously saved by the bell and translated into English. One of the stories he told. Hilarious 
Nigerians just know her as the person who gave the country its name but Flora Shaw was actually the first woman to become the editor of a major newspaper in the world
Today’s episode of ‘History is using Nigeria to catch trips and banter’ (1804)
Muhammadu dan Haruna - Emir of Hadejia from 1885 to 1906 - was a tall and proud man. So much so that he never bent or stooped to enter into any building - if a doorway was not high enough, it would be broken to allow him pass
Sir Hanns Vischer. Original from Switzerland
When WW1 kicked off in 1914, 🇳🇬 was controlled by 🇬🇧 and 🇨🇲 was controlled by 🇩🇪 so both countries fought for about a year and 🇬🇧 took Douala and a few other towns (casualties - 🇬🇧; 1,800, 🇩🇪, 5,000). German PoWs were held in Lagos before later being shipped to Britain
(Germany responded by sending spies to infiltrate Lagos and spread rumours that Britain was being beaten in the European theatre and they were going to leave 🇳🇬 soon. To counter this, Lugard embarked on a 1,000 mile national ‘Nothing Dey Happen, We Dey Here’ tour)
(Turkey also sides with Germany and tried to use religious links to persuade Northern Nigerian leaders to rebel against Britain but they refused)
2 of Dan Fodio’s sons were named Abubakar Atiku and Muhammad Buhari
