Ashipa

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| name = Aṣípa

| title = 1st Oba of Lagos

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| succession = Oba of Lagos

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| reign = {{c.|1682|1716}}{{cite book |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=MCHSd62Tse8C |page=29 }} |title=Slavery and the Birth of an African City |page=29 }}

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| successor = Ado

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| birth_name = Ashipa (Yoruba: Aṣípa)

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| birth_place = Isheri Olofin, Aworiland

| death_date = 1716

| death_place = Lagos

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| burial_place = Lagos

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| issue = Ado

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| house = House of Olofin

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| father = Unknown

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| religion = Ifá

}}

Ashipa, the founder of the Lagos royal dynasty but uncrowned as Oba of Lagos,{{cite book|author=Aimiuwu, O.E.I.|title=Ashipa: the first Oba of Lagos|publisher=Nigeria Magazine, Issues 100-104, Government of Nigeria 1969|pages=624–627|url= http://www.africabib.org/rec.php?RID=183298764|accessdate=3 August 2017}} whom all Obas of Lagos trace their lineage to,{{cite book|last1=Mann|first1=Kristin|title=Slavery and the Birth of an African City: Lagos, 1760-1900|url=https://archive.org/details/slaverybirthafri00mann|url-access=limited|publisher=Indiana University Press, 2007|isbn=9780253348845|page=[https://archive.org/details/slaverybirthafri00mann/page/n59 45]|year=2007}} was an Awori Chieftain from Isheri. Ashipa was rewarded with title of Oloriogun (war chief) after returning the body of one Asheru, a Benin war captain to Benin{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Robert |title=Kingdoms of the Yoruba |date=20 December 2023 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-003-80417-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RFneEAAAQBAJ&q=ashipa+asheruhttps%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.ca%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DRFneEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT80 |access-date=27 October 2023 |language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Herskovits Kopytoff|first1=Jean|title=A Preface to Modern Nigeria: The "Sierra Leoneans" in Yoruba, 1830 - 1890|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|pages=64–65}} and received the Oba of Benin's sanction to govern Lagos.{{cite book|last1=Folami|first1=Takiu|title=A History of Lagos, Nigeria: The Shaping of an African City|publisher=Exposition Press|isbn=9780682497725|pages=22|year=1982}} Some Benin accounts of history have the Ashipa as son or grandson of the Oba of Benin.{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Robert|title=The Lagos Consulate, 1851-1861|publisher=University of California Press, 1979|isbn=9780520037465|page=4|date=January 1979}}

According to the Lagos traditional account however, Ashípa (Yoruba: Aṣípa) was a local native, an Awori Yoruba chieftain of Isheri.

Ashipa received a sword and royal drum as symbols of authority from the Oba of Benin on his mission to Lagos. Additionally, the Oba of Benin deployed a group of Benin officers charged with preserving Benin's interests in Lagos. These officers, led by Eletu Odibo, were the initial members of the Akarigbere class of Lagos White Cap Chiefs.

References