The Egba United Government (EUG) was a political entity in the late 19th century in what is today

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. The Government was formally established by the Lagos Colony Governor - Mccallum at a meeting organised in 1898, by William Alfred Allen an Egba man who was the Colonial Government Agent in Abeokuta. William Alfred Allen was appointed the First Secretary to the Government by the Colonial government while the Egba rulers were given government portfolios. Allen was eventually succeeded by

Adegboyega Edun Adegboyega Edun (né Jacob Henryson Samuel; July 22, 1860 – c.1925) was an Egba official. He served as the secretary of the Egba United Government, a colonial-era Yoruba political entity. Life A Saro, Edun was born in Sierra Leone on Sund ...

. The EUG was recognized by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

at the end of the Yoruba civil wars in 1893, thus making it one of Africa's ''legally existing'' nation-states (at least according to modern international law) to remain independent during the

Scramble for Africa The Scramble for Africa, also called the Partition of Africa, or Conquest of Africa, was the invasion, annexation, division, and colonisation of Africa, colonization of most of Africa by seven Western Europe, Western European powers during a ...

. Its independence did not last for long, however, as the nature of the government, which placed constraints on the power of the king, was antithetical to

Frederick Lugard Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong ...

's vision of "

indirect rule Indirect rule was a system of governance used by the British and others to control parts of their colonial empires, particularly in Africa and Asia, which was done through pre-existing indigenous power structures. Indirect rule was used by variou ...

": he therefore had it dissolved under the pretext of the king and his chiefs inviting the British monarch to serve as their protector in the aftermath of a period of internal civil strife in the early part of the 20th century.

References

Canby, Courtlandt. ''The Encyclopedia of Historic Places''. (New York: Facts of File Publicantions, 1984) p. 2 {{Nigeria-gov-stub History of Nigeria 1898 establishments in the British Empire History of Abeokuta