HOW BENIN TRADITIONAL COUNCIL INVENTED THE FAKE EKALADERHAN THEORY
In 1914 Benin Royal Family deliberately brought themselves under the umbrella of Ife-Yoruba, so as to get the Ooni to testify in its favour, to persuade the British not to give away the throne to Agho, The Obaseki (Minister of Commerce) of Benin. Obaseki was friend of the British, who acted as “unofficial Oba” when Ovoranmwe Nogbaisi was exiled to Calabar, and he lobbied the British to give him the throne upon Ovoranmwe’s death in 1914. With most Benin people and chiefs on his side, and the support of Ooni, Prince Aiguobasimnwi succeeded against Obaseki and then became Oba Eweka II, thereby retaining the throne in the Ewakpe line. He chose the title EWEKA to seal his family’s right to the Obaship which is connected to Ife via the Eweka Oranmiyan dynasty. Egharevba was the most dependable Palace ally in this phase of the game. It was an easy role for him because he was himself a descendant of the Iyase of Benin during the reign of Oba Osemwende (c. 1816-1848)
Between 1914 and 1960s Oba Eweka II and Oba Akenzua II were members of Yoruba Conference of Obas and the agreed order of seniority in that body was Ooni 1st, Alafin Oyo 2nd and Oba Benin 3rd. The Benin Palace played along.
After independence in 1960, Akenzua II then fought tooth and nail to secure the creation of Midwest region and thereby got out of the Yoruba Umbrella which had, by then, served it’s purpose for Benin Royalists.
In 1970s, with the Oba of Benin no longer a small fish in a big pond (Western Nigeria, Yoruba), but now the biggest fish in a small pond (Midwest region, present day Edo Delta states), Benin Patriots began adjusting the history that made Benin an appendage of Yoruba. S. B. Omoregie produced his work “Edo History” in c. 1970. While D. U. Edebiri, Prince Edun Akenzua and Air Iyare wrote articles in the Midwest newspaper The Sunday Observer, in April 1970, Sept 1971 and May 1973 respectively, where in they declared that Oduduwa of Ile Ife, the “grandfather” of Eweka I, was the Benin Prince EKALADERAN whom Egharevba, Akenzua II and Eweka II had all narrated to have died in Ughoton Benin. The game had begun to change, deliberately. Then Oba Erediauwa, 1978-2016, gave it his stamp of authority when he published his book in 2004 and then his son, present Oba Ewuare II, solidified it both in his coronation address and the recent Benin Red Book.
Now, Benin Obaship is firmly in the hands of Ewakpe’s descendants and not Obasekis, and now Benin is culturally INDEPENDENT of Yoruba.
