​By Erasmus Ikhide

​Former Governor Godwin Obaseki has recently reopened age-long wounds, casting an acerbic diatribe from the very soil of the United Kingdom — the nation whose 1897 invasion decimated the Benin Empire. In a display of historical revisionism, Obaseki suggested that both he and his grandfather, Agho Obaseki, possessed the power to topple the Benin dynasty with impunity.

​In the land of the former colonial oppressor, Godwin overreached. He invoked the legacy of a grandfather who was positioned by colonial forces to subvert and desecrate the foremost African traditional institution during a period of looting and exile. Today, Godwin’s attempt to undermine the Benin Traditional Institution — aided by a cohort of disoriented renegades in the diaspora — has heightened tensions to a fever pitch, punctuated by the barbaric attack on his own cousin, Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki.

​A Study in Political Inconsistency

​The relationship between the former Governor Godwin Obaseki and Don Pedro serves as a microcosm of this administration’s dysfunctionality. During the 2016 gubernatorial race, I interviewed Don Pedro as one of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants. In that interview, Don Pedro hurled vitriol at Godwin as if they were sworn mortal enemies. Yet, in the fluid tradition of Nigerian politics, Pedro was later appointed General Manager of the Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS).

​This “honeymoon” was predictably brief. Godwin, a man whose formative years were marked by such internal friction that he reportedly remained estranged from his own mother for nearly a decade, eventually sacked Pedro. When I later questioned Pedro on why he served a man he once reviled, he retorted: “Only a fool keeps a distance from his brother whom providence has made king.”

​Now, the cycle has turned again. Seeing Pedro in the UK, defending a cousin who once discarded him, reveals the moral bankruptcy of an administration that has spent eight years on a path of scorched-earth.

​The Diaspora Disconnect

​The tension reached a breaking point when “unwashed dogs” laid hands on Don Pedro for allegedly defaming the Monarch. While the use of thuggery is a symptom of a “Banana Republic,” Godwin has played a dangerous game by exposing the revered Benin Monarchy to the “children of perdition” abroad.

​Some diaspora critics raise valid points regarding the Omo N’Oba’s perceived political leanings or the collapse of security in the state. There is a simmering resentment among those who believe the Palace has been too passive regarding the blood-curdling activities of Fulani herdsmen who maim, rape and kill Edo farmers. 

They point to the fact that the Monarch, like some elites such as Osamede Adun (Bob Izua), rears cattle, suggesting a conflict of interest that paralyzes action against killer herdsmen in the state.

However, Oba Ewuare II is far too enlightened to ignore history. He knows the cautionary tale of the Afonja dynasty in Ilorin, where those accommodated by the palace eventually routed their hosts. It is in the absolute self-interest of the Monarchy to address these security concerns, for the royalty has more to lose than the commoner should the unthinkable occur.

​The Endurance of the Throne

Ultimately, the epic crossfire between the custodian of Benin history, culture and tradition and the retrograde denizens who are disorientated can’t win this battle against the royal throne reputed to be a voice of moral suasion and historical gravitas. The durable Benin dynasty and Oba Ewuare II have repeatedly demonstrated that the monarchy is capable of defanging and reforming recalcitrants with siege mentality and claustrophobic sense of entitlement. 

Like Oba Ewuare II, as his forebears have shown that traditional institutions are products of repeated actions, routines, habits, rules of engagements burnt into the human consciousness. That’s what the French call geste repete — where they solidify into a set of subliminal precepts that serve as infallible guides to future actions — habits and rules that regulate human affairs with an impersonal rigour that defies authoritarian deviousness.

Those opposing the monarch lack the mental magnitude and gratitude, the steely discipline and the traditional self-sacrifice that produce the institutional framework for the British post-invasion era in Benin kingdom that has transited successfully from the ashes of feudal destruction to modern day resplendent royalty. 

It is painfully excruciating that Godwin Obaseki who should have been celebrated, venerated as durable icon for his unequaled Midas touch for the construction of a world-class Museum that should have been raking in trillions of dollars annually into the state’s treasury such as never seen in modern African history. Godwin Obaseki has lost his deposit on the altar of make-believe sanctimoniousness, hollow gaiety, soul-wrecking fraudfest, unremitting greed and primitive vaunted pride.

Erasmus Ikhide contributed this piece via: ikhideluckyerasmus@gmail.com.