[1][2] Coming to the throne shortly after the Oyo subjugation of neighboring Dahomey, Abiodun soon found himself embroiled in a civil war over the goals of the newly wealthy state.
Abiodun soon proved victorious and pursued a policy of peaceful trade with the European merchants of the coast.
This course significantly weakened the army, leaving his successor, Awole, facing a number of local revolts.
Abiodun's reign is generally remembered as a time of peace and prosperity for the Oyo, though Nigerian playwright Femi Òsófisan portrays him as a despot in his play The Chattering and the Song (1973).
[6] His other descendants include the 19th-century warrior Oluyole, the historian Samuel Johnson, his brother physician Obadiah Johnson, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the first African bishop of the CMS, prominent colonial politician Bode Thomas, pioneering jurist Modupe Omo-Eboh, as well as Nigerian founding father Herbert Macaulay & Islamic philanthropist Mohammed Shitta Bey.