Akaba of Dahomey until Agaja forcibly replaced her and the oldest son of Akaba, Agbo Sassa, to take over the throne. Akaba of Dahomey Akaba was an early King of the Kingdom of Dahomey, in present-day Benin, from 1685 until "c."1716. King Houegbadja had created the basic structure of the kingdom on the Abomey plateau. His first children were the twins of Akaba and Hangbe and they were followed by another son of Houegbadja who would become King Agaja. As the oldest son, Akaba became the king upon Houegbadja's death and ruled until 1716 when he died during battle in the Ouémé River
Republic of Dahomey Maga became the first president of Dahomey. A political crisis in 1958, prior to independence, had led to Maga's Dahomeyan Democratic Movement joining a coalition government, with a subsequent crisis leading to Maga becoming the head of government in April 1959. This compromise, however, was unable to solve Dahomey's problems, and an uprising broke out in October 1963, culminating in a coup d'état, and the replacement of Maga as president with Apithy. This also failed to bring about stability, and Apithy was removed in another coup, in December 1965. Following the 1965 coup, Colonel Christophe Soglo became president. A veteran