Ezzidio, a Nupe was enslaved in the region of what is now modern-day Niger State,[1] was kidnapped by slavers when he was young and brought to an area populated by the Yoruba.
The ship was intercepted by the Royal Navy, [2] and Ezzidio and the other 541 slaves who were still alive were landed in Freetown, Sierra Leone in October 1827.
Goods that were sent to his George Street property, at a total value of between £3000 and £4000 per year, included clothing such as suits and boots, foodstuffs such as ham, cookies, tea, and fortified wines (port and sherry).
The Mercantile Association, in a vote consisting of twenty-four Africans, fourteen Europeans, and one Caribbean merchant, elected Ezzidio to represent them on this body.
This superintendent, Benjamin Tregaskis, was a Nonconformist, strongly sectarian, and opposed to the interdenominational cooperation Ezzidio and others in the church had previously supported.