On Thursday, native doctors, priests, priestesses, and other traditional adherents in the Benin Kingdom brought out their various osusu ma’ ye to place a curse on kidnappers, armed robbers, and anyone working against the progress of the Kingdom and Edo State at large. OSAGIE OTABOR, in this report, x-rays why the Oba’s curse is dreaded.
In 2004, a mysterious fire gutted the Oba Market, located at the heart of Benin City. The Oba Market is as old as the Benin Kingdom. By the time the dust settled, many traders discovered that their goods had not been consumed by the fire but had been looted by thieves.
The traders cried and wept blue murder, believing their goods and money were lost, but Chief Osamede Adun, popularly known as Bob Izua, brought Aiyelala adherents to stage a walk around the market to warn the thieves who had looked on during the fire to return the goods or face the wrath of the gods after seven days.
The following morning, various goods, including money stolen from the market, were dropped at different locations around the market. The items were left on the road, and nobody dared touch them.
At the Ekiosa Market in 2020, the same scenario played out when a fire gutted the market. Thieves who had stolen goods worth millions of naira returned them in droves after they heard the traders planned to curse them with Aiyelala.
The intervention of Oba Ewuare II in 2018 helped free many young Edo girls who were trafficked to Italy and other countries. He brought out some ancient juju which had not seen sunlight for over 800 years and asked traditional priests, priestesses and native doctors from various shrines such as the Ohen Okhuae, Ohen Ovia, Ohen Noriyekeogba, Ohen Ake, Ohen Niwuo, Native Doctors, Ohen Sango, Odionwere, Iwueki and the Enigies (dukes) to invoke curses on human traffickers, armed robbers, kidnappers and their collaborators.
Oba Ewuare II explained that the curse was because he wanted to sustain the positive stories emanating from the state and warned those aiding and abetting human trafficking through the use of black magic and subjecting victims to an oath of secrecy to desist from the act or face the wrath of the gods.
His words, ‘From today, we end all the oaths, and it will not affect those placed on the oath. Anyone who walks on Edo land and eats food cooked with salt and oil will die if they continue doing things that bring shame to the land.
‘The juju will kill those who want to henceforth engage in human trafficking, even those who go to other places to perform juju will also die. Native doctors should not force girls again, and they should return the things they collected from the girls. Native doctors whose business is to subject people to the oath of secrecy and encourage this evil act on the land, you have to repent, stop doing it. This is not a joke, and if you do not repent, you will face the repercussions.
‘The palace is not against those practising the act of native doctors but those who use it to perpetrate evil in the land through aiding and abetting human trafficking in the state.
‘We want to use this medium to tell those who are under any oaths of secrecy that they are now free. We revoke the oath today.
‘What the Palace stands for is peace and the development of the state. I want to use this medium to tell you that the act of using charms to aid trafficking is seriously frowned upon by the palace. ‘We want to join hands together to fight against human trafficking in the land’, he said.
Ikoka community, in Ovia South West local government area, is believed to be under the curse invoked on it by Oba Ewuakpe. Ewuakpe’s mother hailed from the community. He had run there for comfort when there was a revolt against his reign, and his subjects refused to pay him homage. Ikoka community elders were said to have told Oba Ewuakpe to engage in some labour, an action that angered the Oba. He was said to have subsequently cursed the community.
Oba Ewuakpe is recorded as the only Oba to have cursed with his mouth because ‘Oba tie eboh. Eni karo O’ guina’, which translates to the Oba does not curse with his mouth. He complains to the ancestors.
Last Tuesday, the Oba summoned the Igiehon N’ Ikpia and Igiehon N’ Ikhuo, the Ohens, and adherents of various shrines over the increasing spate of insecurity in his kingdom and across the state. He ordered them to, on July 2nd, bring all instruments in their possession to curse kidnappers and all persons associated with criminal activities in the state.
The Benin Monarch, who spoke through Chief Osaigbovo Osamwonyi, the Akenuwa of Benin, said his efforts were to support the state government to ensure peace reigns in the state
‘You all know what is happening. The Oba is trying to bring peace. All the bad things are what we want to wipe away. Use all that you have to send all the wicked ones away. So that we can have a good sleep.
‘We don’t want kidnapping, armed robbery and other social vices in this state. We want peace. The Palace has done much behind closed doors. Use all that you have to chase away wicked ones.
‘After 10 days, you all will return to the Palace with all you have to place a curse on whoever and wherever they are. We want to see change.’
The Oba owns all the shrines in the Benin kingdom. All keepers of the shrines, including the dreaded Ovia and Aiyelala, were present as early as 6 am to pronounce the curse in line with the Oba’s directive. Some of the items, according to sources, do not see the sunlight. Also present were physicians (Ewaise) and the Iwebo society.
They said the Oba told them to revert to the ancient traditional ways of resolving security challenges.
Dressed in the traditional ‘Ododo’ attire, the curse was placed at the entrance gate to the Oba’s palace in Benin City. Libation was performed on several items they were asked to bring, even as the ancestors and ancestral spirits were called upon to bear witness against those seeking to destabilise the peace of Edo State.
Deadly curses were pronounced on sponsors of bloodletting activities and other social crimes, including those who sought the downfall of the Benin Kingdom, while additional purifications were performed to fortify the land against any invasion by bandits. Prayers were held for individuals working tirelessly to ensure the kingdom’s progress and development, as well as the fortification of the land against any invasion by bandits and other criminal elements.
Head of the Ewaise palace group, Chief Osemwonta Iguezigbon, and the Chief Priest of the Ayelala deity, Clement Edegbe, said the curses would end the menace of violent crime and its collaborators.
‘A lot of things have been going wrong in Benin. Some people are no longer respecting their elders. There have been a lot of kidnappings and others’, according to Chief Edegbe.
Chief Iguezigbon added, ‘What happened today was directed by the Oba of Benin, considering what is happening not only in Edo State, but also in Nigeria. Our Oba thought it wise to put a stop to it’.
Chief Isaac Oghafua Ogiemwense Oghafua (the Oyeoba of Benin) said the essence of the spiritual assignment was to fortify the land against insecurity in a traditional way.