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Media wey dey Nigeria West Africa.Our slogan na... pride of Culture Tourism & Lifestyle.We always dey for historical Documentary, and fact finding Tori.

07/10/2022

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05/09/2022

BRIEF HISTORY OF GBAGYI PEOPLE

Gbagyi or Gbari (plural - Agbagyi) is the name and the language of Gbagyi/Gbari ethnic group who are predominantly found in Central Nigeria with a population of about 15million people. Members of the ethnic group speak two dialects.

While speakers of the dialects were loosely called Gwari or Gwagi (an dulterated form of Gbagyi) by both the Hausa/Fulani and Europeans during pre-colonial Nigeria, they prefer to be known with their original name of Gbagyi.

They live in Niger, Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Gbagyi is the most populated ethnic and indigenous group in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, Abuja and their major occupation is farming.

Historically, the Gbagyi practice a patrilineal kinship system. The lowest tier of authority is found in the extended family compound led by the oldest male. The compound consists of small huts and rectangular buildings.

The Osu (king) is the highest tier of authority in a Gbagyi settlement and he is assisted by a group of kingmakers and elders.

The Gbagyi people are predominantly farmers but they are also hunters while some are involved in making traditional arts and craft products such as pottery and woodwork like mortar and pestle.

Gbagyi are good with mixing clay to produce decorative household products such as pots.

Significant Gbagyi towns include Minna, Kwakuti, Kwali, Wushapa (Ushafa), Bwaya (Bwari), Karu, Suleija, Abuja and Paiko.

There are some theories that posits the reasons for the scattered settlements and migration of the Gbagyi people. Some historians believe that the Gbagyi were displaced from their original settlements during the Fulani jihad, while some local historians link migration with the need for farmland by the Gbagyi.

Gbagyi settlements can be both large and small. In locations where farming is the dominant occupation, the settlements tend to be small so that enough land is available for farming.

The Gbagyi were the largest (and still remain same) among the ethnic groups that inhabited the land proposed for development when Abuja was chosen as Nigeria's new federal capital. The dislocation led to the removal of people from their ancestral homes and spiritual symbols such as Zuma Rock.

Seeing their ancestral lands being referred to as "no mans land" have continued to hurt the people leading to presentations to the federal government to correct the notion and other anomalies in the public domain of Nigerians.

The Gbagyi people are known to be peace-loving, transparent and accommodating people.

Dominant tribes and other northerners are fond of saying in Hausa language "muyi shi Gwari Gwari" meaning "let’s do it like the Gbagyi" or "in the Gbagyi way".

According to Theotanko Chigudu, the Gbagyi people have emerged as a unique breed among Nigerians: their culture shows how much they have come to terms with the universe. Daily, they aspire to give life a meaning no matter the situation they find themselves.

The Gbagyi language is part of the Kwasub-division of the Niger-Congo language family, however, some researchers such as Kay Williamson put the language in the Benue-Congo family.

The Gbagyi people are adherents of Islam, Christianity and traditional African religion. In their traditional religion some Gbagyi believe in a God called Shekwoi (one who was there before their ancestors) but they also devote themselves to appeasing deities of the god such as Maigiro.

Many Agbagyi believe in reincarnation.

Islam became more prominent among the people after the Fulani jihad while Christianity was introduced to the people by the Sudan Interior Mission (also known locally as Evangelical Church of West Africa, ECWA).

(With supporting text from Wikipedia)

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Supported by: GalukwoMagazine

04/09/2022

BRIEF HISTORY OF BENIN

Benin, a pre-colonial kingdom in what is now southwestern Nigeria, is believed to have been established before the eleventh century. It was founded by Edo-speaking peoples, but became more ethnically diverse when invaders from the grasslands of the Sudan settled and intermarried with local women. Based on oral tradition, Benin is said to have begun as family clusters of hunters, gatherers, and agriculturalists who eventually created villages. By 1300, Benin was heavily involved in trade and the arts, using such mediums as copper, bronze, and brass. The Benin bronzes eventually became some of the most famous art pieces produced in Africa.

Benin’s early society started as hierarchical, with an Ogiso (King of the Sky) as the head assisted by seven powerful nobles (uzama). These kings established the city on Ubini, later Benin City, in 1180 A.D. Around 1300 the people of Benin rebelled against the Ogiso and invested power in a new ruler, Oranmiyan, who took over only long enough to have a child, Eweka I. Oranmiyan created a new dynasty, calling himself the first Oba (king) of Benin.

The Obas would rule Benin for the next six centuries. Eweka I, the second Oba, however, reorganized the army and took power from the uzama, giving it instead to his supporters. Thus, the new nobility answered only to him.
The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries marked the high-point of Benin’s economic and political power. The kings initiated military campaigns that extended the kingdom on all sides. They also began to trade with Europeans, especially the Portuguese who reached Benin City in 1485. Benin exchanged palm oil, ivory, cloth, pepper, and slaves for metals, salt, cloth, guns, and powder.

Although Benin’s earlier power rested with its domination of interior trade routes, commerce with the Europeans required expansion to the ocean since Benin City, the capital, was 50 miles inland. This problem, however, was solved with the creation of a fort and port on the coast. Benin was desperate to keep trade with the Portuguese who supplied the guns that gave it military superiority over its neighbors especially after its attempt to manufacture guns locally failed. Recognizing his leverage, King Manuel I of Portugal threatened to end the gun trade unless Benin’s rulers adopted Christianity. The attempt failed but the Portuguese continued to supply guns because the slave trade proved too lucrative for either nation to end.

Benin, however, began a slow decline in the 1700s as neighboring nations gained access to Portuguese or other European fi****ms. The kingdom was also weakened by internal disputes over royal succession which often led to civil wars. By the 1890s, Benin was unable to resist British conquest. In 1897 it was incorporated into Great Britain’s Niger Coast Protectorate after a British force conquered and burned Benin City and in the process destroyed much of Benin’s treasured art while sending remaining pieces to London.

The British allowed the Oba of Benin to continue as a ceremonial ruler but all effective power from that point was in the hands of British colonial administrators. The current Oba of Benin serves as a ceremonial ruler in Nigeria.

The ancient kingdom of Benin which is believed to be 2054-year-old is considered one of the richest and most powerful kingdoms in the history of Nigeria. The Great Benin kingdom has been described as the center of Nigeria's development and with good reasons too.

Benin was a pre-colonial kingdom in what is now southern Nigeria. Its capital was Edo, now known as Benin City in Edo state. Benin which is often confused with the modern-day Republic of Benin, is one of the oldest and most highly developed areas in Nigeria.

Being one of the most talked about places in Nigeria, it comes as no surprise that a lot of things which have gained prominence in the country and the world today, first started or was witnessed in the Benin kingdom.

Here are some interesting facts about the ancient kingdom that proves how much of a great kingdom it really is:

1. The Oldest Church in West-Africa was established in Great Benin Empire by the Earliest Portuguese missionaries in the 16th Century which is today known as the Holy Aruosa (Benin National Church). Pope Pius XII visited Benin and handed the church to the Oba of Benin, Oba Oreoghene in 1692AD.

The church, Holy Aruosa which means 'Eye of God' is a traditional worship house of the Binis where the people are said to have direct contact with God without going through any intermediary.

2. Oba Orhogbua founded Lagos and planted a dukedom, the Obaship of Lagos.
His reign was marked with the expansion of the Empire westwards. He founded Eko and Badagry and established the monarchical rule in those places and placed his own representatives to rule them. He established the first Oba of Lagos.

3. Oba Ehengbuda was the last Oba of Benin to lead the Benin armies physically in battle.
After his death in 1601, the Benin kingdom gradually shrunk in size. The boundary of Benin Empire and Oyo Empire was set at Otun Ekiti during his reign after many wars was fought between the two Empires.

4. The Benin people are the best bronze casters in the world.
This is believed to be one of the greatest defining characteristics of the historic Kingdom of Benin. Established in the 14th century by Oba Oguola, the tradition of the casting profession remains a very preserved tradition only practiced by the Igun clan of casters by the official approval of the Oba.

5. No female king has ever ruled Benin kingdom across the two dynasties; the purported female Ogiso Emose (584-600AD) who at his coronation, took the mother’s name ‘Emose,’ and so earned the reputation of being regarded as a woman Ogiso and Ogiso Orroro (600-618AD), was blacksmith and a philosopher who ruled for 18 years and died at the age of 98 years holding an iron in his hand.

6 According to the 1974 edition of Guinness Book of Records, the walls of Benin City and its surrounding kingdom as the world’s largest earthworks carried out prior to the mechanical era.

7 The King of Benin can in a single day make 20,000 men ready for war and more, if need be. This is due to the fact that he has great influences among all the surrounding peoples. His authority stretches over many cities, towns and villages.

Waka24 Daily

04/09/2022

History of Abuja

The land now called Abuja was originally the south-western part of the ancient Habe (Hausa) kingdom of Zazzau (Zaria). It was populated for centuries by several semi-independent tribes. The largest of the tribes was Gbagyi (Gwari), followed by the Koro and a few other smaller tribes. In early 1800'′s when Zaria fell to Fulani invaders, Muhammed Makau, fled south with some followers and his brothers- Abu Ja and Kwaka. Abu Ja succeeded Makau in 1825. The full name of the king was Abubakar, Abu was his nickname. By some accounts his fair complexion earned him the nickname Ja which means red or fair-skinned in Hausa. He became known as Abu-Ja meaning Abu the red or Abubakar the fair one. Other sources say that the Ja is a shortened form of lshaku Jatau, his father's name. King Abubakar founded the kingdom of Abuja.

Abuja became a major commercial center where goods were exchanged by long distance traders. The inhabitants successfully fought off the Fulani and were not conquered as the neighbouring lands were. In 1902, Abuja was occupied by the British colonial army The British reorganized the kingdoms and called them emirates which means kingdoms in Arabic. Until 1975, it remained a quiet part of Nigeria. The problems associated with the capital being in Lagos, led to the search for a new capital that year. Abuja was selected from amongst 33 possible sites. The criteria used for selection included: centrality, health, climate, land availability and use, water supply, multi-access possibilities, security, existence of resources, drainage, good soil, physical planning convenience and ethnic accord.

The Emir of Abuja at the time, Altai Suleiman Bara, was asked to meet with his Emirate Council to approve contributing four of the live districts to Abuja to become the new capital. The council was divided as some districts considered it too much of a sacrifice; but at the end, they approved the request from the Federal Government. Thus, the Abuja in Niger

04/09/2022

Igbere was founded not later than 1267 by a man called Ebiri Okomoko. He was a great warrior, farmer and hunter whose place of origin has been traced according to Ogwo Eme Uzor (aka:Santos) and Igu Anyaegbu to the lkweres who reside along the banks of Imo River in Nigeria. In lkwere Etche located in the River State of Nigeria, is a town known as “Okomoko”. It was here that our great ancestor “Ebiri Okomoko” was born. Ebiri Okomoko was the fifth of sixteen children of Prince Aguma Egbiri, a member of the Ruling House in Okomoko. His father had three (3) wives. His eldest wife had four daughters. Ebiri Okomoko’s mother, Ekemini, was the second wife. She was said to be so beautiful that she was thought to be a reincarnation for the “river goddess”.

According to Elder E.E. Ukaegbu, a legal practitioner and very prominent indigene of Igbere whose painstaking research gave birth to a booklet captioned The History of Igbere, published in 1974 and revised in 2008, Ebiri did not head for Igbere at inception. He had moved from Etche to a few places before making a fairly long stop over at Ajata Ibeku, near Umuahia. There he met Uduma-Eze and Onyerubi, both of whom later founded Ohafia and Abam. He also sojourned at Oroni forest where he met Egbebu who later founded Edda.

They parted ways, for reasons researchers have not yet revealed, and Okomoko, adventurous as ever, hit Eke forest and finally settled there. Even today, with its rampaging modernity and rapid development, no one has dared destroy Eke-Igbere which still inspires awe and reverence from the average Igbere man. If a disputing duo went to Eke forest and any swore falsely, the erring person is said to be inviting sudden and untimely death. If an Igbere man is wounded in a fight or even an accident, such as exposes his blood, it only takes liquid from leaves of any tree from the forest for the gushing blood to cease. Such is the real or perceived power of the Eke forest, named after the market day of Okomoko’s arrival or after his beloved mother - Ekemini. He arrived on an Eke market day, one of the four days that make a typical Igbo calendar week.

But the story of Igbere’s origin has just begun. Okomoko’s settlement was not the end of the matter. It was the beginning or just the end of the early phase. Please stay with us if you can for the Part Two of this Documentary - Who was Ebiri Okomoko?

Notable people from igbere are Orji Uzor kalu, Navy commander Amadi Ekweche, Ben Kalu, chief Ekeoma Eke that was Ex CBN deputy Governor

GOD BLESS IGBERE!!!

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03/09/2022

WHO SOLD NIGERIA TO THE BRITISH FOR £865K IN 1899?

This is the story of the first oil war, which was fought in the 19th century, in the area that became Nigeria.

All through the 19th century, palm oil was highly sought-after by the British, for use as an industrial lubricant for machinery. Remember that Britain was the world’s first industrialised nation, so they needed resources such as palm oil to maintain that.

Palm oil, of course, is a tropical plant, which is native to the Niger Delta. Malaysia’s dominance came a century later. By 1870, palm oil had replaced slaves as the main export of the Niger Delta, the area which was once known as the Slave Coast. At first, most of the trade in the oil palm was uncoordinated, with natives selling to those who gave them the best deals. Native chiefs such as former slave, Jaja of Opobo became immensely wealthy because of oil palm. With this wealth came influence.

However, among the Europeans, there was competition for who would get preferential access to the lucrative oil palm trade. In 1879, George Goldie formed the United African Company (UAC), which was modelled on the former East India Company. Goldie effectively took control of the Lower Niger River. By 1884, his company had 30 trading posts along the Lower Niger. This monopoly gave the British a strong hand against the French and Germans in the 1884 Berlin Conference. The British got the area that the UAC operated in, included in their sphere of influence after the Berlin Conference.

When the Brits got the terms they wanted from other Europeans, they began to deal with the African chiefs. Within two years of 1886, Goldie had signed treaties with tribal chiefs along the Benue and Niger Rivers whilst also penetrating inland. This move inland was against the spirit of verbal agreements that had been made to restrict the organisation’s activities to coastal regions.

By 1886, the company name changed to The National Africa Company and was granted a royal charter (incorporated). The charter authorised the company to administer the Niger Delta and all lands around the banks of the Benue and Niger Rivers. Soon after, the company was again renamed. The new name was Royal Niger Company, which survives, as Unilever, till this day.

To local chiefs, the Royal Niger Company negotiators had pledged free trade in the region. Behind, they entered private contracts on their terms. Because the (deceitful) private contracts were often written in English and signed by the local chiefs, the British government enforced them. So for example, Jaja of Opobo, when he tried to export palm oil on his own, was forced into exile for “obstructing commerce”. As an aside, Jaja was “forgiven” in 1891 and allowed to return home, but he died on the way back, poisoned with a cup of tea.

Seeing what happened to Jaja, some other native rulers began to look more closely at the deals they were getting from the Royal Nigeria Company. One of such kingdoms was Nembe, whose king, Koko Mingi VIII, ascended the throne in 1889 after being a Christian schoolteacher. Koko Mingi VIII, King Koko for short, like most rulers in the yard, was faced with the Royal Nigeria Company encroachment. He also resented the monopoly enjoyed by the Royal Nigeria Company and tried to seek out favourable trading terms, with particularly the Germans in Kamerun (Cameroon).

By 1894, the Royal Nigeria Company increasingly dictated whom the natives could trade with, and denied them direct access to their former markets. In late 1894, King Koko renounced Christianity and tried to form an alliance with Bonny and Okpoma against the Royal Nigeria Company to take back the trade. This is significant because while Okpoma joined up, Bonny refused. A harbinger of the successful “divide and rule” tactic.

On 29 January 1895, King Koko led an attack on the Royal Niger Company’s headquarters, which was in Akassa in today’s Bayelsa state. The pre-dawn raid had more than a thousand men involved. King Koko’s attack succeeded in capturing the base. Losing 40 of his men, King Koko captured 60 white men as hostages, as well as a lot of goods, ammunition and a Maxim gun. Koko then attempted to negotiate a release of the hostages in exchange for being allowed to chose his trading partners. The British refused to negotiate with Koko, and he had forty of the hostages killed. A British report claimed that the Nembe people ate them. On 20 February 1895, Britain’s Royal Navy, under Admiral Bedford attacked Brass and burned it to the ground. Many Nembe people died and smallpox finished off a lot of others.

By April 1895, business had returned to “normal”, normal being the conditions that the British wanted, and King Koko was on the run. Brass was fined £500 by the British, £62,494 (NGN29 million) in today’s money, and the looted weapons were returned as well as the surviving prisoners. After a British Parliamentary Commission sat, King Koko was offered terms of settlement by the British, which he rejected and disappeared. The British promptly declared him an outlaw and offered a reward of £200 (£26,000; NGN12 million today) for him. He committed su***de in exile in 1898.

About that time, another “recalcitrant King”, the Oba of Benin, was run out of town. The pacification of the Lower Niger was well and truly underway. The immediate effect of the Brass Oil War was that public opinion in Britain turned against the Royal Nigeria Company, so its charter was revoked in 1899. Following the revoking of its charter, the Royal Niger Company sold its holdings to the British government for £865,000 (£108 million today). That amount, £46,407,250 (NGN 50,386,455,032,400, at today’s exchange rate) was effectively the price Britain paid, to buy the territory which was to become known as Nigeria.

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03/09/2022

Waka24 Daily Family Make Wuna Meet De 42nd Of Olubadan .. ..
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03/09/2022

SIX LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES TO LEARN FROM AN EAGLE....

1. Eagles fly Alone and at High Altitudes.
They don't fly with sparrows, ravens, and other small birds.

MEANING; Stay away from narrow-minded people, those that bring you down. Eagle flies with Eagles. Keep good company.

2. Eagles have an Accurate Vision. They have the ability to focus on something as far as 5km away. No matter the obstacles, the eagle will not move his focus from the prey until he grabs it.

MEANING; Have a vision and remain focused no matter what the obstacles and you will succeed.

3. Eagles do not Eat Dead things. They Feed only on Fresh Prey.

MEANING; Do not rely on your past success, keep looking for new frontiers to conquer. Leave your past where it belongs, in the past.

4. Eagles Love the Storm.
When clouds gather, the eagle gets excited, the eagle uses the storms wind to lift itself higher. Once it finds the wind of the storm, the eagle uses the raging storm to lift itself above the clouds. This gives the eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. In the meantime, all the other birds hide in the branches and leaves of the tree.

MEANING; Face your challenges head on knowing that these will make you emerge stronger and better than you were. We can use the storms of life to rise to greater heights. Achievers are not afraid to rise to greater heights. Achievers are not afraid of challenges, rather they relish them and use them profitably.

5. Eagles Prepare for Training;
They remove the feathers and soft grass in the nest so that the young ones get uncomfortable in preparation for flying and eventually flies/ when it becomes unbearable to stay in the nest./

MEANING; Leave your Comfort Zone, there is No Growth there.

6. When the Eagle Grows Old,
His feathers becomes weak and cannot take him as fast and as high as it should. This makes him weak and could make him die. So he retires to a place far away in the mountains. While there, he plucks out the weak feathers on his body and breaks its beaks and claws against the rocks until he is completely bare; a very bloody and painful process. Then he stays in this hiding place until he has grown new feathers, new beaks and claws and then he comes out flying higher than before.

MEANING; We occasionally need to shed off old habits no matter how difficult, things that burden us or add no value to our lives should be let go of.

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03/09/2022

Historical Bini language Ducting Vibe,
Ogbolor & Melon Wahala

02/09/2022

Good Afternoon my ogbonge beautiful fans.
How Wuna dey we move jari .

02/09/2022

Yearly Festival 🎎 Of the People of Osun Osogbo Festival 2022
Nice 👍

02/09/2022

Wow nice Development Waka24 Daily Fans

19/06/2022

Waka24 Culture and Tourism, West Africa. understands that God took the strength of a mountain, the patience of eternity, and combined them to create the thing we call father ,Be appreciated today and always for making something out of nothing,for the love you share to your family,the care and for standing up for that amazing family of yours ….HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to Amazing fathers who understand the true meaning or being a FATHER!!!!!!!
Stay safe and positive always

18/06/2022

SWAHILI is a Bantu language widely used as a lingua franca in East Africa and having official status in several countries.

The Swahili originated from the intermarriage of Arabs with the coastal Bantu communities. The Swahili live in urban centers along the East African Coast. The Swahili were initially called Wangozi. They are believed to have migrated from Shungwaya to the coast, where they intermarried with the Arabs.

The Swahili culture has a large Arab influence and the word 'Swahili' fittingly means 'coast' in Arabic. Swahili is a Bantu language spoken mainly in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, and also in Burundi, Mozambique, Oman, Somalia the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa by about 98 million people.

Today's Swahili, a mixture of African and Arab ancestry, trace their origins to this trading relationship. The Swahili use a Bantu-related language laced with Arabic words, and practice Islam, but enjoy music and food that is distinctly African.

How do we say Hello in Swahili❓

Keep it real, keep it popping 💯

Waka24 Empire Media

18/06/2022

800 Year Old Oak Tree.

It is called Majesty, or the Fredville Oak, and is located in Fredville Park, Nonington, Kent.

Waka24 Empire Media

18/06/2022

IBA OLUYOLE!

Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State back in the days, is known to be a camp of notable war soldiers mostly from Egba, Ife, Oyo and some other parts of Yorubaland.

One of these warlords whose name must be mentioned whenever the creation and survival of the city are being discussed however is Ibasorun Oluyole. After Lagelu’s first and second Eba Odan, as it used to be called, being an abandoned settlement, was discarded by raging wars across the Yoruba land back in the 16th century, Iba Oluyole ruled over what is today referred to as Ibadan land. He was said to have commanded enormous respect among warlords back then. Having been born into the house of a warrior; his grandfather, Yamba Bi Ekun, was Basorun in Oyo during the reign of Alaafin Ojigi. His father’s name was Olukuoye Ajala.

His mother, Agbonrin was the daughter of Alaafin Abiodun 1. Though Oluyole’s age couldn’t be ascertained, he was said to be born around 1740-1750A.D. At the initial stage, Oluyole learned the trade of Blacksmith and thereafter specialised in modelling weapons of war. But he was later to become a fearless warrior. Probably because of his background, as a grandchild of Basorun, Oluyole was said to be very vast in charms. The source or logic behind this is his diabolical powers nobody knew.

Waka24 Empire Media

18/06/2022

This is a pencil drawing by 16-year-old artist Shania McDonagh! 😮

Waka24 Empire Media

18/06/2022

THIS WAS THE LAST INTERVIEW OF OBA OVONRAMWEN NOGBAISI BEFORE HE JOINED HIS ANCESTORS:

An audience with his Majesty
Oba Ovonramwem Nogbaisi

Interview notes

Q: Thank you for having us today. Your Majesty how are you feeling?
A: Very frail from my illness.

Q: Your Majesty, it is exactly 17 years to the day today that the British put together a naval squadron of 1200 Royal marines to capture Your Majesty and burn down your city. We apologise for their cruelty but we would just like to get your views on what happened and on life for you after that punitive expedition.

Q: The British claimed that they were acting in response to your soldiers eliminating a peaceful party they had sent to bring you presents at Christmas, what would you like to say in response to that?
A: What is Christmas? My people had no idea about Christmas, we had our sacred ancestral ceremony during that period (the Igue Festival) and the British Party led by Lawyer Phillips knew that and was told to wait for just two days for me to complete my fasting but he said he was too big and too busy to wait for us to complete our ceremonies. He decided to invade our private ceremonies during my fasting and prayer period and when no one was allowed to talk to or disturb me; putting together a party of over 270 officials and soldiers , he set out to march on our city against all advice that this was an unwise move. My Chief of Army Staff saw this as a deliberate act of unprovoked war declaration and acted accordingly to defend our city. What would you have done if you had been in his position?

News International 101: We are very sorry, Your Majesty. We will move on to another question.

Q: The British reported that you were the last person to evacuate your city when it was being burnt to the ground; it must have been very painful for you to watch centuries of your ancestors’ hard work burnt to cinders. Why did you wait till the bitter end?
A: You just imagine this, I had recently in the new year, blessed all my peoples’ households and prayed for their prosperity this year; then one month on, the city is burning and I flee with the people, how would that have made us look as Divine King of the people? My duty was to watch over their houses and the city until there was nothing left, my ancestors would have expected this of us.

Q: The papers reported widely about the treasure trove in your storerooms, the British reported finding intricate bronze plaques, ivory and terracotta artwork ‘of the highest quality covered in the dust of age’. What was the idea behind this?
A: We were renovating the palace and put these away for safe keeping. I must add that most of the works the British found there had been in the storerooms for centuries; my ancestors wanted to record and preserve their history in expensive and durable forms, it is one’s duty to uphold this desire.

Q: Your Majesty, you now live in Calabar, how have things been with you?
A: Traumatic. Losing one’s place in the world is never easy. Having to cope with being a nobody after being a king in charge of a proud and industrious people and of a country is very humiliating but one has to do all one can to survive, even a once upon a time king like me. One lesson we made sure we taught our people was; ‘when the going gets tough, the tough must get going’; this mindset sets superior stock apart from ordinary stock and I am made of a superior stock, this trying period attests to this fact.

Q: Has it been difficult adjusting to your new position?
A: You have no idea just how difficult it has been. Some people deliberately scorn you with impunity for the sake of just being able to do so.

Q: What one incident stands out for you?
A: One day, one of my children was playing with other children, one of them deliberately head butted her, injuring her badly. She suffered a fractured jaw and eye inflammation and was in pain for months. When her mother complained to the local chiefs here, all they did was to ask that child to apologise whereas in my custom back home, the child’s parents would have been fined heavily for not having their child under control. It was painful for me as a father knowing that I cannot even protect my own family when others want to deliberately hurt or harm them.

Q: What would you like to say to the British?
A: I have this message for the British; congratulations, now that you have opened up your trade routes on our soil, but make no mistake about this; this is not the end of the Kingdom of Benin.

Q: Your Majesty, thinking back about it all, is there anything that you would have done differently?
A: NO. I was trained from an early age to defend my people’s interests and to safeguard our history. I performed that duty to the best of my ability even in the face of bribery with presents from British officials to abandon my people and to pursue my own riches. My ancestors would have turned in their graves if we had behaved any differently. Anyhow, history will be the judge of whether we should have done anything differently.

Q: Your Majesty, have you any final words?
A: Yes, tell all peoples everywhere in the world, that whenever they come across a Benin artwork, they should look deeply at the composition and use the narrative it tells to pass on the history of a great Rain-forest Kingdom that existed on the West African Coast from 40BC till the British sacked it in 1897. The world should tell our story well.

News International 101: Your Majesty, thank you for giving us so much of your time today. We hope you get better soon so you can leave the hospital and return home.

End of interview.

News International 101, received news the following day that his Majesty passed away in hospital; he never recovered from his illness and never returned home. At the time of his death, he was far away from his people and their traditions and so his traditional burial ceremonies could not be observed in full.

His Majesty Ovonramwen Nogbaisi died on Wednesday 14th January 1914.

Tuesday 14th January 2022, marked his 108 years death anniversary.

His Majesty Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi was never informed that his captor and judge Ralph Moor who put him in chains and exiled him from his kingdom, on return to England after his African duties suffered insanity and committed su***de on September 14th 1909; 'The coroner's jury determined that "the poison was deliberately taken whilst temporarily insane after suffering acutely from insomnia", they had heard evidence that Moor had suffered for the last four years on his return from Africa with malarial and backwater fever that induced insomnia.'

Source Wikipedia

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Videos

Waka24 Daily Family Make Wuna Meet De 42nd Of Olubadan ..#waka24daily .. Follow Waka24 Daily page here.

Historical Bini language Ducting Vibe, Ogbolor & Melon Wahala #waka24daily

Wow nice Development Waka24 Daily Fans #waka24daily

Historical Lost : Wow so sad Waka24 join millions of Nigeria and Edo Lite to say farewell to one Edo Music Icon Amb Joseph Osayomore . Waka24 Historical Magazine #waka24 #waka24family

Wow this tree professional cutter dey amazing oh very much! Waka24 Magazine #waka24 #waka24family

Beautiful Historical fact, About the people of Opobo Kingdom in Obo ! Waka24 Magazine #waka24 #waka24family

Wow he dey sweet make wuna watch this ogbonge historical documentary about the origin of Olorogun festival wey the people Delta dey do every years like dis .. This story happened 1937 ...about one man wey dem called Aye . Waka24 Magazine #waka24 #waka24family

That tradition that keeps us strong for life Let's celebrate our mothers everyday Happy mother's days! From Management and Staffs of Waka24 Family dey tie Wuna say happy mother's days jari .. #waka24 #waka24family .