Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani Kayode has advocated that the statue of Nigerian Heroine, Efunporoye Tinubu be removed because she owned and traded slaves when she was alive.
Fani Kayode urged Nigerians to pull down the statue at the popular Tinubu square in Lagos after black lives matter protesters in the US and the UK pulled down statues of known slave owners long dead.
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The former minister said it was unjust and insensitive for a country to continue to honour people who were involved in the slave trade.
“Now that statues of slave owners like Edward Colston are being pulled down in the UK it is time for us to pull down the statues of slave owners like Madame Tinubu in Nigeria. A nation that continues to honor historical figures that traded in human flesh is insensitive & unjust,” he said.
Madam Tinubu was an influential and powerful slave trader during her time who acquired wealth and landed properties in Lagos.
Asides from slaves she also sold raw materials like clothes and palm oil to the Europeans and acted as a link between them and the Yorubas in the hinterland.
She was instrumental in the installation of Obas in Lagos and was instrumental in helping the Egba of Abeokuta stop an invasion from Dahomey (present day Benin Republic).
Towards the end of her life, she renounced slavery and devoted her resources to fighting European domination of Southern Nigeria at the time.
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