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Lagos - Egor, a small settlement on the outskirts
Benin City claims a historical pre-eminence but remains unsung. But for the
‘Teacher’s Lake,’ the pond which cuts the Siluko Road in the local government
area into two clear sections for close to eight months of the year, rendering
it inaccessible, not much is known about the village. Yet Egor, a village on
the outskirts of Benin City, the Edo State capital occupies a special part of
the history of both the Edo and the Yoruba.
Benin City whose traditional ruler is a product
of the goodwill which Egor extended to Oranmiyan who created the Eweka dynasty
in Benin has more or less ignored it. For the descendants of Oduduwa (and Oonis
after him) Egor appears to have been one ancient forgotten accident of history.
The typical ‘in-law’ relationship has become extinct. However, Dr. Peter Ogupor,
(MON) the Ogiefor traditional ruler of Egor in Egor local government area is
not resting on his oars. He has embarked on restoring this ancient town to its
once glorious past. Historian Jacob Egharevba has it that when the last Ogiso
was banished from ancient Benin for maladministration and the commission of
Kirikuvua (murder of a pregnant Bini woman), a vacuum was created which had
to be filled. The people found in a man called Evian, the type of leader they
wanted.
Evian it was who killed a monster, ‘Osogan,’ which
had made a duty of terrorising the citizens on market days. Though a commoner
he was appreciated to the extent that the Bini poeple saw him as a natural leader
with the last Ogiso gone. Towards the end of his reign, he, in order to build
an own dynasty, nominated his son, Ogianwen as his successor but the young man
was rejected by the people. Infuriated, the people sent to Ooni Oduduwa of Ile-Ife
to come to their aid by providing them with a capable ruler. Oduduwa in response,
sent one of his sons, Oranmiyan but not before he sent seven lice to Benin chiefs
to nurture for 1,000 days.
When the chiefs passed the
test, Oduduwa was so impressed that a people could nurture creatures as minute
as lice felt they could look after his son. Oranmiyan stepped on Bini soil to
meet a stiff opposition in Ogiamwen. Since he did not understand the language
and culture of the people, Oranmiyan concluded that only a child born and bred
in the land could be their king. Subsequently, |
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The Political & Spiritual Purpose of the
Holy Land
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he met, fell in love with and
married the beautiful daughter of Obanego called Erunwinde by whom he had a
son, who he ordered should be installed ‘Oba’ in his stead as he headed back
for Ile-Ife. But Prince Ukwere Ogiegor says that the relationship between Egor,
Oranmiyan and Ile-Ife was not as cut and dried as depicted by the historian.
He told The News that because Benin was ungovernable for Prince Oranmiyan due
to the machinations of some chiefs and, especially, Ogiamwen the Ile-Ife prince
had to seek refuge and found the Osanego (Ogiegor’s palace at Egor), a home
away from home.
Prince Oranmiyan, he says, lived in Egor, where
the abode he shared with Erinwinde, prior to and after the birth of his son,
still stands till today. It was recently reconstructed as the shrine of Amoto
Nuhe. He also mentions the birthplace of Oranmiyan’s son (now also a shrine)
at Egor known as Aruo Amego, the Egor main market. According to the historian,
Oranmiyan’s son who was said to be the progenitor of the Obas of Benin was brought
up at Egor by his grandfather Osanego, until he was 12 years old before he was
taken to occupy the throne of his father. Prince Ogiegor said the son has a
name known only to the Egor people.
The name, Eweka, by which he is popularly known,
Ogiegor insists, was only a cognomen he acquired after he ascended the throne.
He also speaks of a warm relationship between Egor and Ile-Ife as a result of
the union between their children asserting that in all ramifications Egor occupies
a pride of place as far as Yoruba and Bini histories are concerned. Dr. Ogiegor
told this magazine that the present Ooni of Ife once visited Egor in the company
of the Oba of Benin but that was years ago. The photograph taken at the occasion
is more or less fading. Since that visit in the mid-eighties, The News gathered,
Egor has remained an unsung in-law of Oduduwa. |
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