The life of Seriki Williams Abass (born Ifaremilekun Fagbemi) is one of the most striking—and morally complicated—stories in nineteenth-century West African history.
Born in Ilaro (present-day Ogun State), he was captured into the transatlantic trade, transported abroad, and yet returned to become one of Badagry’s wealthiest merchants and a powerful local ruler.
His biography exposes the tangled intersections of slavery, commerce, religion and colonial rule on the Gulf of Guinea coast.
From capture to return
Accounts agree that Abass was taken into slavery as a young man and that, while he kept the Christian/European name Williams and the Muslim/West African name Abass, his original name was Ifaremilekun Fagbemi.
Sources diverge about the precise circumstances of his emancipation and route home: some traditions say he was freed in Brazil before making his way back to West Africa; others point to interludes in ports such as Sierra Leone.
What is clear is that he returned to the Lagos-Badagry littoral with knowledge, contacts and capital that he would convert into commercial power.
A merchant with terrible means
On his return Abass established himself as a major trader in Badagry, a port that long linked interior produce (notably palm oil) to Atlantic markets. In that capacity he became deeply involved in the transactions that sustained the nineteenth-century trade in enslaved and bonded labourers.
He built a substantial barracoon—a holding structure used to detain captives prior to shipment—part of a complex of buildings on his compound that today survives as part of the Badagry heritage site.
That surviving structure has been preserved and interpreted by the Badagry Heritage Museum and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments as an important, painful testimony to the mechanics of the slave trade on the Gulf of Guinea coast.
Political authority under colonial rule
As Abass’s wealth and local standing grew, so did his political influence. During the period of early British indirect rule he was recognized as a senior chief in Badagry. Local records and colonial documents variously describe him as a paramount local authority or warrant chief; scholars caution that the precise administrative scope of those titles—especially labels such as “Paramount Ruler of the Western District”—is often overstated in later retellings. In short: he was indisputably one of Badagry’s foremost power-brokers, but the territorial reach and formalities of his colonial-era authority vary between sources.
Religious role and social status
Abass was also a prominent Muslim leader in the area and is commonly referred to in local histories by the honorific “Seriki Musulumi” (leader of Muslim faithfuls). This title highlights how his public identity combined commercial, political and religious leadership—an integration typical of many coastal elites of the period. At the same time, his status as a former captive turned trader and chief complicates simple judgments about victimhood or villainy.
Death, memorials and a difficult legacy
Seriki Williams Abass died in 1919 and was buried on his estate in Badagry. Today the barracoon and related colonial-era markers on the site are curated as part of the Badagry Heritage Museum.
Visitors confront in those spaces a layered history: the brutality of human trafficking, the entrepreneurial strategies of returnees and local elites, and the ways colonial administrative practices reshaped local power.
Historians and heritage practitioners treat Abass’s life as a prism for difficult questions. How did people who had experienced captivity reconcile or rationalize participation in the slave trade?
How should communities remember leaders who were both survivors and perpetrators?
The preserved buildings and cenotaphs at Badagry are deliberately unsettling because they refuse simplistic narratives.
Reading the past with care
Seriki Williams Abass’s biography forces us to resist tidy moral categorizations. He is neither solely a heroic survivor nor merely a villainous profiteer; he embodies a historical reality in which violence, commerce and authority were often entangled.
The barracoon that survives at Badagry remains an essential site for public memory precisely because it preserves those tensions.
Sources
Badagry Heritage Museum / National Commission for Museums and Monuments (site displays and archives)
Nollywood icon Genevieve Nnaji has fired off a sharp response after a man on X (formerly Twitter) advised Igbo men to stop marrying Igbo women and instead seek wives from other African countries.
The controversy began after a photo of a Rwandan woman said to be engaged to an Anambra man went viral.
Resharing the image, the user wrote, “Dear Igbo men, instead of marrying an Igbo woman who’ll falsely accuse you of r4ping your daughter, better look outside for a wife.
“Go to East Africa, especially Rwanda, and pick a damsel. They’re all over social media, and you can link up with them.”
Genevieve, who rarely comments on online drama, responded, “In other words, instead of checking yourself and taking accountability, go for the unsuspecting and carry on with your evil. Got it.”
Another user attempted to challenge her, claiming the original tweet was aimed at “false rape accusers” and that Genevieve was avoiding the real issue.
“His tweet was clearly against false rape accusers, but instead of holding the evil women accountable and demanding change, you chose to tweet this?”
But the actress hit back with equal clarity: “The same way a woman can’t tell an abusive man apart from a good one is the same way you shouldn’t say avoid all Igbo women. ‘Not all women’.”
Reality TV star Phyna has offered words of encouragement to fellow Big Brother Naija winner Imisi amid a family feud between the latter and her mother.
In an X post on Monday, Phyna wrote,”To Imisi, @imisiofficial and to anyone walking through the same fire… I’m praying for your strength.
“My own experience broke me, but I’m slowly rising.
“And I’m rooting for you with everything in me, don’t handle it like I did, build strong and focus on you baby girl.”
The post comes against the backdrop of a family dispute in which Imisi’s mother accused her daughter of hatred and revealed the poor condition of the home where she currently lives, despite Imisi winning N150 million after her Big Brother victory.
Imisi replied in Yoruba,”This is why Aunty Debola said you should not show your face to the world. I can’t be saying all that now, you are in the midst of people. Just overlook everything and leave social media.
“Don’t worry, I will send you money to rent a new house. I am tired of all this drama. I am still recovering from the stress of Big Brother.
“Should I be facing another stress now? Please forgive me, I am your daughter.”
Recall Imisi’s mother has publicly expressed frustration on social media, saying she does not need her daughter’s money after being sidelined following the win.
She also blamed Imisi for recounting her childhood experiences, which she claims involve untrue allegations of parental neglect and sexual assault.
In a video, she showed the old house she currently resides in, saying she is content with her situation, a revelation that sparked online controversy.
In 2023, after Phyna’s BBNaija win, her father, Felix Otabor, revealed in an interview that he was distressed by his daughter’s actions following her BBNaija win.
Otabor said Phyna had asked him to stop working as a hearse driver and requested that he sell his cars, promising to improve the family’s life.
He said he later struggled financially after selling the vehicles, losing his business momentum and community position, and has not seen his daughter since her victory.
He described feeling sidelined while she enjoyed her wealth.
Nollywood actress, Regina Daniels, has opened up about her marriage to her estranged husband, Senator Ned Nwoko.
It was reports that the embattled wife revealed why their seven-year relationship remained faithful despite his polygamous lifestyle.
In a reply to a comment on her Instagram page, Daniels said that during their years together, Nwoko never slept with other women outside their home because she held him well in the other room.
She wrote: “Yes i think he loved me but a toxic one! Because tell me why a polygamous man forgot what it meant to be in polygamy, except for the media.
“Just because it boosted his ego of being seen with multiple women which is easy by me because anyone that sees a man as an odogwu sees the wife as what? He basically had to beg that he share days at ours and other days with his other wives because they begged for his attention.
“Y’all should pls forget this yeye social media comparison because my ex man never slept outside one day in our 7 years of marriage. You know why? Because as a delta babe, I hold am well for the other room ladies use your skills that’s all men want actually!”
