Appeal Court Rules in Favor of the Ogiamiens

-Suspends Coronation of a New Oba till Final Determination of the Main Suit

-Oba Palace disgraces self, brought in thugs to beat Ogiamiens in the court premises

By Faith Omorodion

The Justices of the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City yesterday 20th September 2016 suspended judgment in the case between Ogiamien Vs Oba of Benin before it but further ruled that both royal families should maintain status quo and go back to the High Court to continue the main substantive case.  The implication of this decision of the Appeal Court ruling which favors the Ogiamiens is that the installation and coronation is hereby suspended till the determination of the main suit at the High Court. This decision did not go down well with the Oba palace because the main substantive case at the High Court was filed against the Oba Palace by the Ogiamien Royal Family after releasing their King from Oko Prison last year.  In the suit, the Ogiamien Royal Family is seeking for the full implementation of the Ekiokpagha Treaty entered into by the first Oba of Benin Oba Eweka I and Ogiamien Erebo in 12:00AD, when Obaship was forcefully introduced into Igodomigodo in 12:00AD by which time Ogiamien Erebo was the reigning King of the Binis.  The Ekiokpagha Treaty from what we are hearing now divided Igodomigodo now Bini into two; one part Ogiamien Erebo reluctantly leased to Oba Eweka I in 12:00AD to stop the Oyo Empire that attacked them from further massacre of the Binis then, the portion which is now known as Benin Kingdom, while Ogiamien Erebo took the remaining part now known as Utantan Kingdom. The Bini speaking area of Edo State is made up of seven local government areas namely:

• Oredo
• Egor
• Ikpoba-Okha
• Ovia South West
• Ovia North-East
• Uhunmwode
• Orhionmwon

By the provision of the Ekiokpagha Treaty, Ikpoba Okha LGA, Orhionmwon LGA, Uhunmwode LGA and part of Oredo LGA are within the territory of Utantan Kingdom while Egor LGA, Ovia South West LGA, Ovia North-East LGA and part of Oredo LGA are within Benin Kingdom but all this while the Oba of Benin according to revelations coming out from the Ogiamien Royal Family has been in control of these 7 LGAs, leaving them with nothing.  Now, the Ogiamien Royal Family is asking for:

(1) The establishment of a separate Traditional Council for the Ogiamien known as Utantan Kingdom as contained in the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Edict No. 37 (cap. 19) made at Benin the 7th day of November, 1968.

(2) The total refund of the amount of money due to the great Ogiamien Palace from the three and half Local Government Council Areas in Ogiamiens domain namely Ikpoba-Okha, Orhionmwon, Uhunmwode and part of Oredo Local Government Areas collected by Benin Traditional Council from 1968 – 2015).

(3) Proper observance of the terms of the treaty of Ekiokpagha. That is, the maintenance of the demarcation line which divided the Bini Nation into two equal parts. While the Ogiamien maintains his Kingdom, the Oba maintains his part of the Kingdom too without interference from both sides on how they preside over their parts from each other.

(4) A review of one of the land lease fees of Ugianmwen to the present day Naira which is N350,000,000.00 (Three Hundred and Fifty Million Naira) only, four persons including a woman, a large drum called the Okha, a flute-Orhu, a cow, and Ukhurhe Staff, Agba and Ere.

(5) Direct collection of his royalties from the Local Government Council Areas under his domain and

(6) Never to refer to the Ogiamien as a Chief under the Oba of Benin as the Ogiamien is equal in rank or status with the Oba of Benin (in modern times) if not superior to the Oba as the Ogiamien is the Oba’s Lessor.

According to reliable sources, the Ogiamien Royal Family is Saying that until these conditions are met, they would not administer the Ekiokpagha Treaty on the Crown Prince HRH Eheneden Erediauwa.  This is the main substantive case at the High Court, so asking both royal families to maintain status quo, go and face the main case at the High Court invariable means further suspension of the coronation of the new Oba. Of course, this is not in the best interest of Oba Palace because apart from the case taking a long time to decide, it is going to expose more hidden secrets.

Meanwhile before yesterday’s sitting, the Oba Palace had fixed 26th September 2016 for the installation and coronation of the new Oba of Benin against the ruling of the Justices of the Appeal Court on July 28, 2016 however, they rescheduled the installation and fixed it again between 18th and 20th October 2016, a reliable source says the date is finally fixed for 20th October, 2016, which is a clear violation of the earlier court order.

The lawyer for the Oba’s palace came to seek for adjournment on a day after 20th October 2016 to enable them secretly rush the installation and coronation of the new Oba. The Court settled for 6th October, 2016 making it impossible to continue with the installation and coronation of the new Oba of Benin which they had scheduled for 20th October, 2016.

Shamefully, the Crown Prince HRH Eheneden Erediauwa as we were told later ordered one Chief Osamede Adun aka Bob Izua Motors a senior Chief of Oba Palace to bring thugs into the court premises, who started beating up members of the Ogiamien Royal Family who were present, seized their phones, destroyed their cars, and injured a lot of them.  They went and reported to the Police who made records; Journalists were threatened if they report what exactly happened yesterday and also threatened to kill the Ogiamien’s Lawyer who took refuge inside one of the court rooms until the Commissioner of Police sent his men to escort the lawyer back to his house.  They have threatened to kill the lawyer if he continues with the case.  Only NTA so far reported the case last night in their news bulletin but refused to show the footages of the violence meted to the Ogiamiens.

What is confusing to many people is that the Ogiamiens are not asking for the stool of the Oba of Benin, they are saying that they want to continue to administer the Ekhiokpagha Treaty on every new Oba which is their birth right. They had previously administered the treaty on the 38th Oba’s so far that had ruled Benin Kingdom, the immediate past Oba Erediauwa, but the Oba Palace wants to circumvent it because succumbing to the Ogiamiens in this jet age which is the right and normal thing to be done means losing the three and half (3 ½) Local government areas  (known as Utantan Kingdom) to the Ogiamien Royal Family and at the same time reveal them as strangers in Bini thus rubbishing their earlier claims that the Yoruba migrated from Bini.  These are some of the factors causing the crisis, but the question is how long will the Oba Palace continue to hide these secrets, after all the Binis are now aware of truth.

In an interview with a lawyer at the court premises Barrister Mrs. Osaro Osunde, she said:  I personally came to the court to witness the proceedings and find out what is really going on because sometimes newspapers can deceive people but what I saw today was an eye opener.  I did not know the Ogiamiens are the true aborigines until what I saw in the court today.  I felt ashamed.  I just cannot understand how an Oba to be will use thugs to beat up people who are supposed to install and pronounce him an Oba.  I am yet to recover from this shock.

Many Binis spoken to whom also witnessed this ugly incident at the court a lot of them preferring anonymity concluded It is settled, so the Ogiamiens actually owned Bini.  This is interesting noting that the present approach of introducing violence into this simple matter by the Oba Palace leaves very much to be desired.

To cut the story short, the Appeal Court ruled that both Royal families should maintain status quo till the final determination of the main suit meaning the installation and coronation of the new Oba of Benin is further put on hold and as it is now nobody can predict how this issue will be resolved.

All efforts, yesterday to get the PRO of the Oba Palace, Mr. Frank Irabor who was at the court proved abortive as he disappeared when the violence erupted.

But in  a telephone discussion with the Director of Information & External Affairs of the Great Ogiamien Royal family High Chief Esotericist Monday Wehere JP whose mother Princess Helen Ogiamien Wehere is a direct scion of the Great Ogiamien Royal Family simply said:  We are happy we have been vindicated but cautioned the Oba Palace to stop introducing violence into what he described as this very simple historical matter stating further that nobody anywhere in the world as of now has monopoly over violence” Esotericist Wehere cautioned and used the opportunity to appeal to journalists at the court yesterday to send to him the stories for record purposes and for posterity especially those with the video footages since the thugs brought in by the Oba Palace to beat his people seized their cameras and the telephones of  his media crew at the court.