Thursday 20 October 2016 will go down well in the annals of world history as the Benin Traditional Council crowned Prince Eheneden Erediauwa as the 40th Oba of Benin. The enthronement is coming after the April 2016 death of the 38th Oba of Benin, Oba Erediauwa, who was crowned Oba of Benin in 1979.
Prince Eheneden Erediauwa, Ọba atọkpẹ e, Ọmọ n’ ọba n’ edo uku a’ kpọlọ kpọlọ, ascended the throne as Ọba Ewuare II. But why did he prefer the name, Oba Ewuare II? History has a lot to say!
Oba Ewuare, who now becomes Oba Ewuare I, also known as Ewuare the Great, was the king of the Benin Empire from 1440 until 1473. Oba Ewuare I became king in a violent coup against his brother, Uwaifiokun.The coup destroyed much of Benin City.
After the war that ensued, Oba Ewuare I rebuilt much of the city of Benin, reformed political structures in the kingdom, greatly expanded the territory of the kingdom, and fostered the arts and festivals. He left a significant legacy and is often considered the first King of the Benin Empire.
The speech of newly crowned Oba Ewuare II at his coronation is a proof that the spirit of Oba Ewuare I is back alive in a whole new dimension.
Ewuare means “the trouble has ceased”.
As if that was not enough, the newly crowned Oba preferred to be known as the 40th Oba of the Benin kingdom, not the 39th, and we think he is right. The Oba of Benin, Ọmọ n’ ọba n’ edo uku a’ kpọlọ kpọlọ, Oba Ewuare II, at his coronation rejigged history, stressing Oronmiyan, the son of Oduduwa and father of Eweka I, be regarded as an Oba for all purposes, henceforth; because, according to him, “Oronmiyan was an Oba”.
How right can he be?
Many centuries ago, at the time when Bini was called Igodomigodo, the geographical area we now know as Benin, was the hub of a conglomeration of little towns that developed or spread into most of the areas of Bendel State, now known as Edo and Delta states.
Throughout that period, Igodomigodo made steady progress especially in the areas of spiritual, philosophical and administrative development. Its efforts were largely concentrated on the arrangement of human order so that by the time Europeans made contact with the people of Bini in the 15th century, they had already established an administrative system which, till this date, wowed the Europeans.
The nucleus of this great civilization was the monarchy which Bini perfected around the 18th century when, after a series of experimentation with the Ogiso, Bini introduced a monarchical system that is based on the principle of primogeniture, beginning with Oba Ewuakpe, at about 1712AD.
Ogiso Igodo (40BC-16AD) established the Igodomigodo kingdom in the sense that it was. During his period, the components of Bini were united and formed into a central administrative unit. He was the first recorded Ogiso of Igodomigodo (Bini) kingdom with his seat of government at Ugbekun.
Fast forward to 1059AD, Ogiso Owodo (1059AD-1100AD) became the 31st and the last Ogiso of Igodomigodo (Benin) kingdom.
Ogiso Owodo was a hermaphrodite; he was adjudged incompetent. He brought a lot of hardship to the kingdom. He fell into the habit of not summoning the state council meeting unless there was trouble. He was preoccupied with the primogeniture law especially as he had only one son, Ikaladerhan, who he thought might die before him, which might leave him without a successor.
This obsession drove him to consult an oracle as to how he might have more male children who might succeed him. He was asked to sacrifice his only son but the son was secretly granted freedom by his executioners when he was to be sacrificed.
On his flight, Ikaladerhan first settled at a place known as Ughoton after several months of wandering in the jungle. Hunters from Bini stumbled on him in the forest and after their return to Bini, Ikaladerhan packed up his tent and left because he was afraid that the hunters would tell of his existence and his father would give fresh order for his arrest and execution. As he feared, the hunters reported their discovery whereupon his father sent soldiers along with them to go for his arrest. But by the time they arrived Ughoton, Ikaladerhan had gone!
Afraid that Owodo would not believe they did not meet him (after all, was Owodo not once deceived that Ikaladerhan was executed when, in fact, his life was secretly spared?), the soldiers and hunters stayed put without returning to Bini. It was they who, in fact, founded Ughoton and named it after Ikaladerhan to be known as Iguekaladerhan (the land of Ikaladerhan).
After wandering in the jungle for several years, he showed up at Uhe (or Ife). Hitherto, neither Ikaladerhan, nor the people on whom he stumbled on were aware of the existence of other people on earth, than those that belonged to their immediate environment. To the people therefore, Ikaladerhan must be a god, a forest god; especially as they discovered him in the jungle. Ikaladerhan was adept in hunting and he understood the habits of animals to an astonishing degree. These facts, no doubt put mystique on his being, and his personality; and by a twist of fate, Ikaladerhan who was banished by his own people was accepted by a people who stumbled on him in the forest.
Ikaladerhan by a change of fortune eventually emerged at Uhe (Ife) a king with the appellation Ododuwa derived from the Bini word “Imaghidoduwa or Imadoduwa” which is an exclamatory word “I have not missed the path to prosperity” a reminiscence of surprise at his emergence as king in a strange land after having left his homeland a refugee.
His sudden appearance among the Yoruba people of Uhe may well be an explanation for the mysticism surrounding the personality of Oduduwa of Ife.
Ogiso Owodo was eventually banished from the kingdom for killing a pregnant woman out of anger. He settled at Ihinwirin.
At the time of his banishment, Owodo had no successor because his only son and heir-apparent, Edaiken Ikaladerhan, had earlier left for an unknown destination after having been secretly granted freedom by those sent by his father, Owodo, to execute him as sacrifice to the gods to enable Owodo have male children.
When Owodo was banished for ordering the execution of a pregnant woman, Evian was appointed administrator. Evian was a Bini chief when Ogiso Owodo was on the throne. Evian sought to appoint Ogiamien his son as his successor. The move was resisted by the kingmakers known as ‘Edion’ at the time (presently know as ‘Uzama’) and the Bini people. The resistance resulted to a political strife and anarchy.
A search party, the Edion (five at the time), was sent to look for the long-banished Prince, the heir apparent to the throne. The trail inevitably ended at Uhe (Ife) where Ikaladerhan had established himself.
When he was located and his identity known to the search party, Izoduwa refused to return with them because of his old-age. Even if he wished to grant the delegation’s plea to return home, he was not physically capable of undertaking such a hazardous journey.
Izoduwa had to test the sincerity of the search party, the Edion. He gave the Edion three lice to protect. Oliha, the leader of the Edion, preserved the lice for three years. This astonished Izoduwa and was moved to trusting the Edion.
After testing the sincerity of their (the Edion) intention, he sent one of his sons, Oronmiyan, who volunteered, to accompany them to Bini.
The nearest account of the antecedent of Oduduwa to the Bini oral tradition narrated here is the version written by T. A. Osae and S. N. Nwabara in A Short History of West Africa A.D. 1000 to 1800, that the name of the much revered legendary ancestral hero of the Yoruba is Oduduwa. He is portrayed in several variants of the legend as an eastern Prince who, driven out of his kingdom in the east, finally entered Nigeria after a long march with his followers. When it is realized that Bini is to the east of Ife, the version of the Bini oral tradition is further strengthened by that account.
Irrespective of the divergence of the versions of the account of how Oronmiyan came to Bini, there are certain common facts; namely, that Oronmiyan was the son of lzoduwa (Oduduwa) and that he was the father of Eweka I.
History has it that Oronmiyan’s son, Eweka, eventually became the Oba of Bini in about 1200AD as Oba Eweka I. He established no new dynasty. He was the great-grand-son of the Bini monarch Ogiso Owodo.
But, this is where it all went wrong in history. Oronmiyan could not have journeyed all the way from Ife to Bini without being crowned Oba; except, probably, history did not tell if he voluntarily did not want to be king and preferred his son instead.
From Oba Eweka I, who ruled up to the middle half of the thirteenth century to Oba Akenzua II, who reigned from 1933 to 1978, a total of thirty-seven Oba ruled Bini. Oba Erediauwa was the 38th Oba of Bini when he was crowned in 1979.
Newly crowned Oba of Benin, Ọmọ n’ ọba n’ edo uku a’ kpọlọ kpọlọ, Oba Ewuare II, has appropriately chronicled the history books, and preferred Oronmiyan be regarded as an Oba for all purposes, henceforth; because, according to him, “Oronmiyan was an Oba”.
To have disregarded Oronmiyan, the son of Oduduwa, who journeyed all the way from Ife with the kingmakers of the time, with the view to becoming the crowned Oba, as not Oba of Benin was a historical anomaly; an anomaly, Ọmọ n’ ọba n’ edo uku a’ kpọlọ kpọlọ, Oba Ewuare II, has rightly corrected.
Oronmiyan was the first Oba of the Benin kingdom. Oba Ewuare II is right! History books have to be rewritten!
Long live Benin kingdom!
Long live the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II!!
Long live Nigeria!!!
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