Truthvalue:
Chief Obaseki is an ancestor of mine, he's my great grand father.
I am not neutral in this affair, I personally do not think he betrayed. But there is one noble whose house was the only one spared in Benin city, that guy probably betrayed. I think I saw some documents some time ago about some traitors.
Immortalisation: deitification.

gregyboy:



The Benins nobles and resident were threatened with guns if they don't bring the oba of benin out from hiding or failed to tell how to capture the benin charm warriors

So every benin people betrayed..... The particular Chiefs didn't make an exception for me

Truthvalue:

Actually, the Oba of Benin came out to surrender on his own. It is believed that he was wrongly advised by a noble.
Nobody took the british to him. After Oba Ovonramwen surrendered, General Ologbotsere continued the fight.

gregyboy:



The oba of benin first surrendered himself and
Later escaped and was recaptured by his Chiefs who were threatened

gregyboy:

So every benin people betrayed....

Truthvalue:

No, I still maintain, it was a select few who betrayed the Emperor.

samuk:
Truthvalue and Gregyboy.

I just did a quick catch up with you guys and would like to add a few points.

1. According to Benin oral tradition, all new Obas mother were king when the old Obas died. So Benin oral tradition is in agreement with the French book just referenced. However oba Esigie hide his mother in a royal group called Oro (meaning secret) Street in Benin. Oro Street is situated at the beginning of TV road by five junctions. When you enter the Street, towards the end of the street on the right side is a small forest which everyone is forbidden to enter. This small forest of trees at the centre of town has been a royal ground since the time of Oba Esigie.

The oral history said, when the Benin chiefs were looking for Oba Esigie's mother, Queen Idia for execution, Esigie hide his mother in this forest in Oro Street and stationed chief Ero of Urubi to be a guide to prevent anyone from coming close by announcing that the ground contains a secret. Chief Ero Palace is not very far from this location.

In Benin, every new Oba can promulgate new laws, so oba Esigie threatened the chiefs that were looking for his mother for execution that if his mother is killed, henceforth he will introduce a law that all senior chiefs and nobles mothers will also be killed when their fathers die. A deal was reached and queen Idia was speared. The killing of new Obas mother stopped from the time of queen Idia. We all know the role she later played in the Benin/Ida war.

2. What is not often reported is that the first British led by captain Philip that matched into Benin in 1897 had about 400 soldiers of mostly Hausas and other tribes, it was about eight British commanding about 400 Africa troops matching their ways with Scottish pipes and drums in Benin from Ughoton. This guys were ambushed by the Benin troops, only two British survived that initial attacks and there is no record of how many of the black troops were killed by Benin soldiers, few also ran into the forest for their safety.

The initial match on Benin was not sanctioned by the British government at Whitehall. But after the humiliation by Benin, the government was pushed to act against Benin.

Benin largely lost the war because Britain had the recently invented maxim gun which the Benin didn't have.

There are documentaries on YouTube called egua-Iyoba and another British documentary on the 1897 British massacre, this documentary referenced actual British government documents on the Benin massacre.

gregyboy:



Wow.... I thank you for coming in on this one, we wont get to tell our children myth anymore rather fact, God bless you on this one benin history is just too elaborate to study it will take years and careful interpretation, and the royals feel unconcerned in teaching it on tvs, if u have the money i would love to do a comprehensive rededucation of benin history on tv.. Before vital oral information are completely lost


Even the queen idah war story is altered by the palace so i heard maybe the real history is too graphics to be let out by the royals, but who cares all is in the past the royals should know this and know peace ✌️

The oro history is sn oral history that can't be found on European document

But then again this is an 1837 document meaning its not what the europeans saw but maybe what they heard....


And for the britsh they really didn't underestimate benin i think they overestimated, the benin war brought the entire west Africa down, it was the benin war that the britsh soldiers gave the excuse to occupy west Africa

samuk:


According to British documents in 1897, they complained that the Oba of Benin was disturbing the free flow of palm oil to Liverpool for making of soap. So the Benin war was initially for the control of Oil (palm oil) which the Oba of Benin had a monopoly. After the first humiliation by Benin, the British government was then convinced by their agents that the cost a large expedition could easily by paid for by the artifacts they have previously seen in the Oba Palace. The British government was convinced that there were enough artworks in the Oba Palace to pay for the war.

Benin is actually filled with royal traditional grounds with rich history. We are gradually losing them.

gregyboy:



It took a lot of convincing before the britsh approved the war, the war was expensive for them too, something they would have sweated to pay for, we let the greedy bastard of the britsh into our country they only didn't war us but destroyed us completely by caging us as minors in their formed country......
If we can pull out of this shithole, we will grow back to our former glory..

The queen of England died for her atrocities on benin and captain Philip went unpunished too when he hung himself

samuk:


Looking back, I think the early Oba that got western education should have done more to spread the knowledge centuries before the British came, who knows, things may have been different. The Yoruba stories will are debating today were initially written by returnee slaves who took the advantage of their western education to advanced their tribe.


Lets divide the country first and start again

There is another opportunity for us now to advance ourselves in science and technology. Africa and Nigeria is lacking in this area, so will can begin to position ourselves now. Science and technology is what made small Israel what they are in the world today. Those of us in Europe and America should advance ourselves by taking advantage of the many opportunities that are open to us. Here all black are viewed the same, no tribalism but racism.

samuk:
Truthvalue and Gregyboy.

I just did a quick catch up with you guys and would like to add a few points.

1. According to Benin oral tradition, all new Obas mother were killed when the old Obas died. So Benin oral tradition is in agreement with the French book Truthvalue just referenced. However Oba Esigie hide his mother in a royal ground called Oro (meaning secret) Street in Benin. Oro Street is situated at the beginning of TV road by five junctions. When you enter the Street, towards the end of the street on the right side is a small forest which everyone is forbidden to enter. This small forest of trees at the centre of town has been a royal ground since the time of Oba Esigie.

The oral history said, when the Benin chiefs were looking for Oba Esigie's mother, Queen Idia for execution, Esigie hide his mother in this forest in Oro Street and stationed chief Ero of Urubi to be a guide to prevent anyone from coming close by announcing that the ground contains a secret. Chief Ero Palace is not very far from this location.

In Benin, every new Oba can promulgate new laws, so oba Esigie threatened the chiefs that were looking for his mother for execution that if his mother is killed, henceforth he will introduce a law that all senior chiefs and nobles mothers will also be killed when their fathers die. A deal was reached and queen Idia was speared. The killing of new Obas mother stopped from the time of queen Idia. We all know the role she later played in the Benin/Ida war.

2. What is not often reported is that the first British led by captain Philip that matched into Benin in 1897 had about 400 soldiers of mostly Hausas and other tribes, it was about eight British commanding about 400 Africa troops matching their ways with Scottish pipes and drums into Benin from Ughoton. This guys were ambushed by the Benin troops, only two British survived that initial attacks and there is no record of how many of the black troops were killed by Benin soldiers, few also ran into the forest for their safety.

The initial match on Benin was not sanctioned by the British government at Whitehall. But after the humiliation by Benin, the government was pushed to act against Benin.

Benin largely lost the war because Britain had the recently invented maxim gun which the Benin didn't have.

There are documentaries on YouTube called egua-Iyoba and another British documentary on the 1897 British massacre, this documentary referenced actual British government documents on the Benin massacre.

samuk:


Looking back, I think the early Oba that got western education should have done more to spread the knowledge centuries before the British came, who knows, things may have been different. The Yoruba stories we are debating today were initially written by returnee slaves who took the advantage of their western education to advanced their tribe.

There is another opportunity for us now to advance ourselves in science and technology. Africa and Nigeria is lacking in this area, so we can begin to position ourselves now. Science and technology is what made small Israel what they are in the world today. Those of us in Europe and America should advance ourselves by taking advantage of the many opportunities that are open to us. Here, all blacks are viewed the same, no tribalism but racism.

Truthvalue:


Something tells me that that was the idea behind the Oba of Benin allowing the europeans to establish churches.

Truthvalue:
I notice that the words Ouéni (Benin) and Awani (Lagos) have very similar french pronounciations, and these words were both wriiten down by french vistors to the region who were spelling local words in order to reflect the sounds which they were hearing. To me this signifies that the awori are just ordinary Edo people named after their location, just like Esan or Itsikeri or Benins or Akoko. What do you think ?

There is no eyewitness account of Lagos without the lordship of the Oba of Benin. So it would be nice to stop hearing stories of Lagos being invaded by the Oba of Benin, as it stands, Lagos' history starts with the Oba of Benin's military commander administering Lagos.

Also, the british colonial papers referred to the Lagos royal house as: house of Ado. Lagos was just an ordinary part of Benin empire, although most of the international trade of Benin empire seem to have taken place in Lagos.

samuk:



I read somewhere that Aworis were originally Edo people but can't substantiate the claim.

samuk:


They should have gone beyond that. I don't know why such novelty (ability to read and write) at that time didn't interest them enough to educate their people on a massive scale.

It's like space technology being brought to Nigeria today and the rulers not taking advantage of it to train their people to become space explorers.

Even today, blacks Africa hardly appreciates the fact that the future belongs to science and technology. There is something about us that put too much emphasis on religion, just look at the religious craziness sweeping the land. China leapfrogged into her current position is just a few decades and we are all witnesses to how it was done, yet unable to copy the same method.

Our leaders are more interested in going to Mecca and Jerusalem for pilgrimages.

Today, we can't even dig a road side gutter without the supervision of some third rated white looking engineers in the names of expatriates, meanwhile, we have been training civil engineers for more than 60 years.

samuk:

I read somewhere that Aworis were originally Edo people but can't substantiate the claim.

samuk:



I read somewhere that Aworis were originally Edo people but can't substantiate the claim.

Truthvalue:


I did too and judging by eye-witness records, the Awori are Edo.

Nisiw365:

Are you minding those benidiots

Its no more we own the word oba. Its now awori are edo