DAWODU.COM 

Dedicated to Nigeria's socio-political issues

2009 US DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY INFORMATION

October 3, 2007 - December 2, 2007

LUNARPAGES.COM and IPOWERWEB.COM - Despicable WebHosts - Read My Story

BENIN AND THE MIDWEST REFERENDUM

By

Dr. Nowamagbe A. Omoigui, MD, MPH, FACC

Chief Executive Officer

Cardiovascular Care Group, PA

Columbia, SC, USA

Speech delivered on Friday, December 20, 2002 at the Oba Akenzua II Cultural Complex, Airport Road, Benin City on occasion of the Fifth Late Chief (Dr.) Jacob Uwadiae Egharevba

(MBE) Memorial Lecture and Award Ceremony, under the distinguished Chairmanship of S. A. Asemota Esq. (SAN), sponsored by the Institute for Benin Studies.

INTRODUCTION

It is a great honor to me to be invited to address this gathering of important sons, daughters and friends of Benin on the occasion of the 5^th Chief (Dr.) Jacob Uwadiae Egharevba (MBE) memorial lecture. 

Therefore, I would like to express my profound appreciation to the Institute for Benin Studies, ably coordinated by Uyilawa Usuanlele.  The Institute’s foresight and persistence in organizing this annual event rightly honors a deserving son of Benin, whose priceless historical scholarship in difficult circumstances has placed key aspects of our history as a people on record for present and future generations.

In coming before you today, I am humbly following the path of more eminently qualified individuals before me.  Professor Unionmwan Edebiri set the tone when he spoke on "Benin and the outer world."  Professor Eghosa Osagie reflected on  "Benin in contemporary Nigeria."   Dr. Iro Eweka reminded us that  "We are, because he was."   Professor Peter P. Ekeh then reached deep into the archives of our ancestry when he presented " Ogiso Times and Eweka Times: A preliminary history of the Edoid Complex of Cultures."

I am neither a professional political scientist nor historian.  However, story telling is part of our culture and tradition.  It is one of the ways ordinary folk have passed the story of our people from one generation to another for centuries.  When I was originally invited to deliver today’s lecture, I tossed and turned for many months.  What singular event in my lifetime, I wondered, did the most, even at a tender age, to shape my sense of whom I am?    What was so singularly unique in its ramifications, as told to me by my father, that I could sit in the moonlight and tell it again and again to my children, and someday, God willing, to my grandchildren and great grandchildren?  That event was the MIDWEST REFERENDUM OF 1963, when I was four years old.  

The title of my essay today is the story of “Benin and the Midwest referendum”.

Why Benin? After all, two provinces (Benin and Delta), and many divisions (including the Benin division) in what became the “Mid-West” were involved in the “War” to create the Midwest region in 1963. 

There are two reasons.  First, the history of the Midwest referendum and events leading to it is exceedingly vast and cannot in all honesty be addressed in a single lecture without losing focus.  Secondly, I found a curious excerpt in the report of the Henry Willink Commission:

“In general, it is our view that desire for the State is strong in Benin City and Benin division, the heart of the old Benin Kingdom, and that the idea has progressively less appeal as one moves outwards from this centre.” [Colonial Office:  Nigeria - Report of the Commission appointed to enquire into the fears of Minorities and the means of allaying them. July 30th, 1958. Chapter 4, page 31]

This prompted me to know more about why Benin came to be considered by the Minorities Commission as the epicenter of the Midwest State Movement and how she mobilized herself and others to join hands to prosecute the “war for the Midwest”.   

I shall conclude with two take-home messages:

a). Political parties come and go, but nationalities remain.

b).                Organized and united across traditional and contemporary forms of leadership, nothing can stand in the way of the peoples of the Midwest.

PREAMBLE

On March 29^th, 1963 the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs of Nigeria was given the responsibility for the organization of a referendum to decide whether a new Region should be created out of the Western region in a sub-region called “the Mid-West”, comprised of the Benin and Delta provinces.

Preliminary guidelines were contained in an official letter signed by Mr. F.B.O. Williams on behalf of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Internal Affairs.  In accordance with the Constitutional Referendum Regulations, 1963, Mr. Gabriel Esezobor Edward Longe, Barrister-at-Law was earlier appointed on January 21^st as the Supervisor and empowered to appoint other referendum officials. It was projected that about 71 officials, all Nigerians of Midwest origin, drawn from the Federal Public Service, Corporations in the Federal territory and from other suitable institutions, working full time for about three months, would be required.  On the day of the referendum, about 9,300 additional officials were anticipated to be required for operations.  The Command Center for the Referendum was designated as No. 2 King’s Square, Benin City.  It was to that office that all referendum officials reported on Saturday, April 6, 1963 to begin their historic assignment.

The appointed Referendum and Assistant Referendum Officers for the various districts of the Mid-West are listed in Appendix One (1).

On the 24^th of June 1963, by order of the Federation of Nigeria Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 43, Volume 50, the Supervisor of the Mid-West referendum issued Government Notice No. 1265.  

It declared that voting at the Constitutional referendum for the creation of the Mid-Western Region would proceed on Saturday, the 13^th day of July 1963.  The referendum question was as follows:

“Do you agree that the Midwestern Region Act, 1962, shall have effect so as to secure that Benin Province including Akoko Edo District in the Afenmai Division and Delta Province including Warri Division and Warri Urban Township area shall be included in the proposed Mid-Western Region?”

Hours of voting at designated Polling Stations extended from seven o’clock in the forenoon until six o’clock in the evening.  It is important to note that a new Voters registration List was not compiled for the purposes of the Mid-West referendum.  Only those listed four years earlier in the Federal Electoral Register of 1959 were entitled to vote.  Those who wished to vote “yes” were to place their ballot papers in the “white box”.  Those who wished to vote “no” were to place their ballot papers in the “black box”.

The results of the Referendum were as follows [GE Longe:  Results of the Midwest Referendum, 1963. July 18, 1963.   From D.A. Omoigui archives.]

The total number of eligible voters, being persons whose names appeared in the Federal Electoral register of 1959 was 654,130.  Of this number the percentage that voted in the affirmative was 89.07%, well in excess of the required 60% (or 392,478) for the creation of the Mid-West region.  The region that was born on August 9, 1963 as a result of the July 13^th plebiscite remains the only major administrative unit of Nigeria created by due constitutional process.  

EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE REFERENDUM

FROM 1897 – 1933

As is well known, Benin City, capital of the independent Benin Kingdom and Empire, and traditional spiritual center of Edo speaking people fell to British troops on February 19, 1897.  From that day onwards we became part of the British colonial system and whatever administrative structures its agents and latter day surrogates created.     The last independent Oba, Idugbowa Ovonramwen Ogbaisi, was deported to Calabar on September 13^th, 1897, where he died in 1914.  [Jacob Egharevba: A Short History of Benin. Ibadan University Press, 1968, p60]

In the meantime, Benin was administered as part of the Niger Coast Protectorate, which later became the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria in 1900.  From 1906 “Southern Nigeria” was administered as three main provinces, Western, Central and Eastern, along with the Lagos colony with which it had been merged that year.  The Eastern province was run from Calabar, the Central Province from Warri, and the Western Province from Lagos.  The Central Province was also known as the Niger province. It consisted of the Aboh, Agbor, Asaba, Awka, Benin, Forcados, Idah, Ifon, Ishan, Kwale, Okwoga, Onitsha, Sapele, Udi and Warri districts.  The protectorate of Northern Nigeria, on the other hand, was initially organized into 13 provinces (run by Provincial residents) before Ilorin and Kabba were merged into one.   According to the “Anthropological Report on the Edo speaking peoples” by Northcote Thomas in 1910, Edo-speaking peoples were mainly located in the Central Province of “Southern Nigeria” and the Ibie and Ukpilla districts of Kabba province of “Northern Nigeria.” 

The protectorates and colonies of Northern and Southern Nigeria were later amalgamated on January 1^st 1914 to create “Nigeria”.  [FD Lugard: Report on the Amalgamation of Northern and Souther Nigeria, and administration, 1912 – 1919. H.M. Stationery Office, 1920].    In Benin, after a 17 year interregnum, Prince Aiguobasimwin, (also known as Ovbiudu – the courageous one) eldest son of Oba Ovonramwen, was crowned Oba Eweka II on July 24, 1914.    Indeed, the splendor of that coronation ceremony is what initially triggered the interest of the late Jacob Egharevba to write down the history of his people.  Dr. Ekhaguosa Aisien has eloquently discussed the remarkable story of how Eweka II regained the throne against incredible odds in his paper “Edo Man of the Twentieth Century.” [http://www.dawodu.net/aisien.htm]   The Ibie and Ukpilla districts of Kabba province of “Northern Nigeria” were merged with their kith and kin in the Benin province of “Southern Nigeria” in 1918.

After 1897, the opening of core traditional Benin lands to so-called “legal trade” in Oil Palm and Forestry by British agents and surrogates created new opportunities and encouraged mass migrations of southern Edoid peoples, among who were the Urhobo.   The period of the interregnum also witnessed aggressive missionary activity, establishment of schools, institution of a system of Warrant Chiefs and the beginnings of what later became the western educated elite.  After 1914, the structure of the colonial Benin Native Council provided a platform for competition between elements of the new elite (like Iyase Agho Obaseki) who controlled the District Council, and the Oba.   The Oba was further weakened by not being allowed to collect taxes, appoint chiefs without British consent or control land designated as reserved for Government activity.  Following the introduction of polls and direct taxation in 1920, the new westernized elite in Benin became increasingly epitomized in the years to come by social and later political groups known at various times as the “Benin Tax-Payers Association” and “Benin Community”.  With the restoration of the indigenous monarchy on one hand, and the simultaneous nurturing of a colonial proxy elite on the other, therefore, two tracks in the leadership of Benin were invoked and waxing and waning tensions inevitably developed between them [Igbafe: Benin under British Administration]. 

In spite of British gerrymandering, primordial linguistic and cultural bonds (and differences) that had evolved over centuries could not be wished away overnight.  The appropriate administrative structure for Nigeria was, therefore, always a source of controversy during the colonial era, as evidenced by the number of constitutions that were promulgated in 1922 (Clifford), 1946 (Richards), 1951 (Macpherson), 1954, and finally 1960.     Since independence in 1960, our flirtation with numerous constitutions in 1963, 1979, 1989, 1995 and 1999 as well as states creation exercises and calls for a “sovereign national conference” continues to reflect this dilemma. 

For example, early British administrators toyed with various proposals for combining groups of provinces into regions and thus nullifying the distinction between “Northern Nigeria” and “Southern Nigeria”.  In 1912, the Editor of the African Mail, Mr. E. D. Morel, suggested that Nigeria be consolidated into the Northern, Central, Western and Eastern provinces [ED Morel: Nigeria, Its Peoples and Problems, London, 1912, p201-10, 2^nd Edition].   Charles L. Temple, one time Resident of Bauchi and later Lt. Governor of Northern Nigeria, proposed seven provinces, namely, the Hausa States, Benue Province, Chad Territory, Western, Central and Eastern provinces along with the Lagos colony. The Governor-General, Sir Frederick John Dealtry Lugard accepted neither of these proposals. Thus after amalgamation, Northern and Southern Nigeria were left intact under powerful Lt. Governors while the three previous large provinces of Southern Nigeria, which had been run by Provincial Commissioners, were broken down into smaller provinces and placed under Provincial Residents.  Northern Nigeria comprised the Sokoto, Kano, Bornu, Bauchi, Zaria, Nupe, Kontagora, Ilorin, Nassarawa, Munshi (Tiv), Muri and Yola provinces.  The old “Central province” of Southern Nigeria was split into the Benin and Warri provinces.  The “Eastern Province” was divided into the provinces of Calabar, Ogoja, Onitsha and Owerri.  The “Western province” became the Abeokuta, Ondo and Oyo provinces, joined thereafter by the new Ijebu province in 1916.  Lagos remained The Colony.  But some provinces were more equal than others, in Lugard’s eyes.  Those that were “more important” were classified as “First Class” provinces.  These were the Sokoto, Kano, Bornu, Bauchi, Zaria, Oyo, Owerri and Abeokuta provinces. [FD Lugard: Report on the Amalgamation of Northern and Souther Nigeria, and administration, 1912 – 1919. H.M. Stationery Office, 1920].  The headquarters of the Southern Provinces was later moved from Lagos to Enugu in 1929.

Even in those early days, there were already stirrings of nationalism.  In October 1923, Humphrey Omoregie Osagie, then only a 27-year-old clerk, delivered a political lecture in Lagos under the auspices of Herbert Macaulay and the Nigerian National Democratic Party.  The young man from Benin would one day become a Titan in the struggle for emancipation of his people. [A. J. Uwaifo: Omo-Osagie and Party Politics in Benin, Department of History, University of Ibadan, May 1985]

Meanwhile, Oba Eweka II became increasingly concerned about the long-term implications of various administrative proposals for new regions that would ride roughshod over the unique history and independence of most of the peoples of the Central Province, which later became the Benin and Warri Provinces.  Therefore, in 1926, he requested the British to bring all the Edoid and Anioma (Western Ibo) areas together in one region that would have a direct reporting relationship with the center. He argued that the people of the Benin and Warri provinces were predominantly of one linguistic, cultural, religious, chieftaincy and historical stock and had functioned in the same cultural system before the British came. [File BP 44,VOL 1, The Oba of Benin. National Archives, Ibadan].  

To the best of my knowledge, therefore, Oba Eweka II, in 1926, was the first, following the dissolution of the old Central province, to conceptualize the consolidation of what later became the Midwest region of Nigeria in 1963.  It was during his reign that the first pan-Edo association called the Institute for Home-Benin improvement emerged in 1932. Its mandate - according to its own documents - was to represent the "Edo speaking people of Nigeria viz: Benin City, Ishan, Kukuruku, Ora, Agbor, Igbanke, Sobe etc."  [Uyilawa Usuanlele: The Edo Nationality and the National Question in Nigeria: A Historical perspective. In Osaghae and Onwudiwe (Eds). The Management of the National Question in Nigeria. PEFS. Ibadan 2001]   In the same year, Thomas Erukeme, Mukoro Mowoe, Omorowhovo Okoro and others formed the Edoid Urhobo Brotherly Society in Warri. 

Unfortunately, Oba Eweka II joined his ancestors on February 8, 1933 and did not live to see his dream come true.  It was, therefore, on the shoulders of his son, Oba Akenzua II, crowned on April 5, 1933, after overcoming opposition from his older sister that the spiritual and royal leadership of the future Midwest State Movement was to fall. [H Osadolo Edomwonyi:  A Short Biography of Oba Akenzua II. Bendel Newspapers Corporation, 1981.]

FROM 1934 - 1945

The Urhobo Brotherly Society evolved into the Urhobo Progressive Union in 1934, and was later known as the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU).  This tightly knit organization would prove to be a powerful ally in the fight for the Midwest.  In 1935, the Institute for Home-Benin improvement lobbied for an Edo speaking person to represent the Benin province in the Legislative council.  Up until then Benin was represented by a Yoruba trader called Mr. I. T. Palmer who was living in Sapele.  This wish was eventually granted when Gaius Obaseki became the first Edo speaking representative on the Legislative council in the early forties (Usuanlele op. cit.).   In 1937, the first conference of traditional Obas and rulers in the Southern Provinces of Nigeria took place in Oyo.  At that meeting a decision was taking to rotate the venue of the meetings to the domains of various prominent rulers.   Coincidentally, the Ibo State Union was also formed that year. 

Then in 1939, what Oba Eweka II had feared came to pass.  The ten Southern Provinces (along with the Cameroon trusteeship province) were consolidated around the Igbo and Yoruba nationalities into two groups now called the “Eastern provinces” based at Enugu, and the “Western Provinces” based at Ibadan. In this new set-up, the Benin and Warri provinces of the independent old “Central Province” were now part of the so-called “Western group” with the River Niger as a natural boundary.  The “Anioma” or “Western Ibo” subgroup of the Benin province, led by Asaba indigenes, requested to be merged with the Aboh division of the Warri province in a new Western Ibo province, but were overruled by the British because of the advent of the Second World War.  [JIG Onyia: My role in Nationalism. 1986 JID Printers Ltd. Asaba].   Oba Akenzua II took note of the Asaba-led agitation. However, in the years preceding it, he was distracted by internal problems in Benin like the Forest reserve dispute of 1934, the abolition of District Heads in 1935, Uzebu uprising and Benin water rate agitation of 1936 – 1940 [Igbafe, op. cit.] .  It was not long, however, before the Richards Constitution of 1947 crystallized both groups of provinces into the Eastern and Western “regions” of Southern Nigeria, each with its own Regional Assembly.  The old “Northern Nigeria” remained as one large region.

Professor P.A. Igbafe has discussed much of the dynamics of colonial rule and its impact on traditional Benin in his outstanding book “Benin under British Administration”.    The late Jacob Egharevba also discussed tensions between Oba Akenzua, a few of his prominent chiefs (like Iyase Okoro-Otun) and the emerging Benin educated and commercial elite in his seminal book “A Short History of Benin.”  Such tensions were driven by different agendas but manifested opportunistically from time to time.   Nevertheless, these tensions - which undermined the Oba’s stature and even threatened his throne - were temporarily resolved after negotiated concessions following appeals from British officials and Traditional Rulers in other jurisdictions, like Warri. 

During this era too, Oba Akenzua II, motivated by visions of a united pan-Edoid nation, agreed to the British proposal for transfer of large tracts of land from the Benin province to the Warri province for “administrative convenience.  Affected tenants, who agreed to continue to pay royalty in return, populated such lands, many of which had opened up after 1897, including places like Jesse, Ogharefe and other lands across the Ethiope River - which are now in the Delta State portion of the former Midwest. 

In August 1942, the conference of traditional Obas and rulers in what was now the Western Provinces of Nigeria took place in Benin City.    It is said that at that meeting, there was an attempt to speak Yoruba as the Lingua Franca, thus causing some irritation among delegates from the Benin and Warri provinces.  Nevertheless, the Second World War was in progress and all efforts were focused on its successful prosecution, so sleeping dogs were allowed to lie.  The war was interrupted only by reports that the Institute for Home-Benin Improvement had transformed into the Edo National Union in 1943 and that  Nnamdi Azikiwe proposed eight (8) protectorates in his “Political Blueprint for Nigeria” [RL Sklar: Nigerian Political Parties. Princeton, 1963]. At about this time tribal unions like the Bauchi Improvement Association, Ibibio State Union, and the Pan-Ibo Federal Union became known. The pro-independence National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) was formed by Herbert Macaulay in 1944.   It attracted many young educated elite from the Benin and Warri provinces initially.  Among them were men like Mr. Anthony Enahoro, TJ Akagbosu, Chief Gaius Obaseki, Arthur Prest, O.N. Rewane, Begho and Edukugho. [EA Enahoro: Fugitive Offender, London: Cassell, 1966]

AFTER WORLD WAR II

In 1945, two significant events occurred in Benin.    Chief Humphrey Omo-Osagie, already mentioned earlier in this essay, retired from the public service and quietly returned to Benin.  He was an ex-student of King’s College Lagos where he was a Schoolmate of Oba Akenzua.  1945 was also the year that Oba Akenzua re-established the Aruosa Church as the Edo National Church of God.  He later wrote its catechism and published two volumes of liturgical books as well as a rule-book based on its constitution.

In the same year, Michael Adekunle Ajasin and Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo conceptualized founding the “non-political” exclusively Yoruba vanguard cultural group called the Egbe Omo Oduduwa  (Society of Descendants of Oduduwa) in London.  It would later be formalized in 1947 and then metamorphose into the Action Group political party in 1950/51. [Sklar, op cit]

After the war, the momentum for independence began to gather strongly, led by Macaulay until his untimely death in 1946 when Nnamdi Azikiwe took over the leadership of the NCNC.  By this time Obafemi Awolowo had begun staking positions publicly and was quoted in 1947 as saying, “Opportunity must be afforded to each group to evolve its own peculiar political institutions.” [Awolowo: Awo – The autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Cambridge University Press, 1960]

Indeed, one of the controversial issues of that era was the extent to which Edo based parties and groups should ally themselves with parties and groups outside the Edoid region. Oba Akenzua II was opposed to external alliances because he saw them as a threat to Edo National aspirations.    In 1947, for example, there was a conference of delegates from the Benin and Warri provinces at the old Conference Hall in Benin City, where fears of domination in the West were articulated.  

On the other hand, some Edo speaking politicians like Anthony Enahoro and Gaius Obaseki, for example, became disillusioned with Nnamdi Azikiwe and the NCNC allegedly for Ibo leanings after Macaulay’s death.  [Enahoro, op. cit.]  The Pan-Ibo Union had been one of the founding organizations of the NCNC.  However, Azikiwe later assumed its Presidency in 1948.   The West African Pilot later quoted him in 1949 as saying “It would appear that the God of Africa has created the Ibo nation to lead the children of Africa from the bondage of ages….”

Meanwhile deep discomfort in Benin with the provincial administrative changes of 1939 was heightened by proposals in the new Richards Constitution of 1946 for the formal creation of the Eastern, Western and Northern Regions in Nigeria.  The new constitution created a separate House of Assembly and House of Chiefs in the Northern region. Initially, the Eastern and Western regions were allotted a unicameral House of Assembly each, to which were later added a House of Chiefs for each of the Regions.  But back in Benin, Oba Akenzua II found himself once again in dispute with elements of the “new elite” even as he kept an eye on events at the national level.

Following the death of Iyase Okoro-Otun in 1943, efforts by the Oba in November 1947 to abolish the title of Iyase (“Prime Minister”) on account of his experience during the water rate agitation were strongly opposed.  Opposition was mobilised by the new “Benin Community Tax-Payers Association” primarily formed to pressure the Oba to confer the title of Iyase on a literate individual.  Thus he reconsidered his position, even though supported by a group of chiefs and prominent citizens including Omo-Osagie, Egbe Omorogbe, Ogieva Emokpae, J. O. Edomwonyi, D.E. Uwaifo, C.Y. Legemah etc.  These chiefs and other men later created the Edo Young People’s party [Edomwonyi, op. cit.]  .  After an unsuccessful attempt to confer the title on Idehen, then the Esogban of Benin, Oba Akenzua eventually conferred it in April 1948 on Hon. Gaius Obaseki, son of the late Iyase Agho Obaseki, some say under pressure from British authorities.  In the next few years to follow the Oba was subjected to humiliations such as a decrease in his salary and ban from conferring titles without permission [CN Ekwuyasi:  Benin Situation as it is today. Daily Times, April 26 1950, p8].

As the Iyase, Gaius Obaseki was executive Chairman of the newly re-organized Benin Divisional Council while Oba Akenzua II was the President.  Obaseki was also the concurrent Chairman of the Benin City Council and its powerful Administrative Committee.  In addition he was elected the Oluwo or Leader of the influential Reformed Ogboni Fraternity (ROF), a fact that would assume great significance in the politics of Benin.  The ROF was a religious order said to be have been in existence since the late 19^th century but formally founded in 1914 by African Christian clergy led by Anglican Archdeacon Ogunbiyi.  It was later introduced into Benin society from Yoruba land, (but is different from the much older traditional Ogboni society of Yoruba Obaship).  The ROF describes itself as the equivalent in the United States of “the Freemasons, Odd Fellows Fraternity, The Rosicrucians, etc.  [Morton, Williams. The Yoruba Ogboni Cult in Oyo.  AFRICA Vol. xxx 1960, p 362-374].

At the Benin provincial level, there were two conferences that year, both marked in part by growing rivalries between two prominent sons of Benin – Chiefs Gaius Obaseki and Humphrey Omo-Osagie.  It was also in May 1948 that Bode Thomas, an emissary of Obafemi Awolowo paid a visit to the Benin and Warri provinces to canvass support for a new political party with a “Yoruba orientation”.  The result of Bode Thomas’s visit was to split the hitherto united nationalist front of young Midwest based politicians into pro-NCNC and anti-NCNC factions.  At about this time, midwesterners barely took note of a new northern organization called the Jamiyya Mutanen Arewa, which was founded in May 1948. It would later evolve into the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), a political party that was destined to play a critical role in the creation of the Midwest region after independence.

Anyway, having accepted the Iyase situation, on October 16^th, 1948, Oba Akenzua II addressed the inauguration of what was known as the “Reformed Benin Community”, formed by Chief Humphrey Omo-Osagie in Benin: 

He said, inter alia:

“The aims and ideals of this new political body seem very laudable and there is no doubt that it will help develop usefully like its counterparts, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa of the Yorubas, the Federal Union of the Ibos and so on….

In the scheme of things, all Benins should strive for a state or principality of Benin in the new Nigeria in the making.  The Hausas, the Yorubas, the Ibos, and so on are on the move and the fact that this or that non-Benin political party has awarded scholarships to Binis for higher studies should not deprive us of our identity, custom, tradition, language and culture, or lull us into a false sense of security. …..

I believe Nigeria expects each of her states to do or mind its own business, though all states have one common business to perform, that is work together in order to achieve in a short time independence for a United States of Nigeria.....

Therefore, the Richards Constitution in 1950 must aim at creating more regions with full autonomy than there are at present, each with its own Governor. At least there must be a fourth region to be known as the Central or South West provinces……

I sincerely hope that the day will come when there will be a larger body to be known as the Federal Union of the Central or South West Provinces in which the Edo, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ishan, Ora, Ivbiosakon, Sobe and so on will be principal members of the union…."   [SOURCE:  National Archives of Nigeria, Ibadan; File BP2647. Reformed Benin Community. ]

Akenzua further advised the Reformed Benin Community to unite all the Edos, critically study the Richards Constitution, which was due for review, and make the creation of the new region the main focus of the organization. At about this time, the only other voice that was loudly heard in the wilderness of States agitation was that of Barrister Udo Udoma who was the first to conceptualize the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers (COR) State.

Meanwhile, the new Iyase of Benin, Gaius Obaseki, was waxing stronger, exploiting his unique concentration of powers.  Jacob Egharevba wrote:   “As a result of various differences, ill-feeling grew up between the Oba and the Iyase.”   Professor Igbafe was more direct:

“Like Cardinal Wolsey of Tudor England, Gaius Obaseki concentrated power in his own hands with ruthless efficiency and uncompromising vindictiveness against known opponents……..The Ogboni began to indulge in excesses. Gaius embarked on a vigorous membership drive.  Those who held out were persecuted.

The result of this over-concentration of power in the hands of a single individual and the excessive exercise of that power vis-à-vis the Oba’s loss of prestige, stipend and power, produced an inevitable but opposite and equal reaction.  There was bitterness against the Ogboni, which now began to dominate the councils and to infiltrate all walks of life in Benin. Progressive young men found the Ogboni influence a social menace and unacceptable to their way of thinking. Possibly the Iyase’s position in the council and in the Ogboni gave excessive political importance to this cult.  Having struggled to place a literate young Iyase in a position of power in order to deflate the Oba’s palace autocracy, the people found that the Ogboni cult was now too powerful and sinister for their comfort.” [Igbafe: op. cit.]

At the Warri and Benin provincial conferences of 1949, all Edo-speaking people (including Urhobo) supported calls for a Midwest State [Files BP/2328, BP/2678/1, BP/742; WP/569/1 National Archives, Ibadan].  During this period opinion among leaders from Asaba division was predominantly in support of consolidation with the Eastern region or creation of a western Igbo province within the Western region. Asaba, western Ijaw, and an Itsekiri faction all opposed creation of the Midwest. When Benin and Warri delegates in favor of creation of the Midwest region attempted to raise the issue at the Western regional conference on Constitutional reform that year, they were prevented from doing so.  Therefore, with Oba Akenzua in the lead, they walked out.   Meanwhile both Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe at this stage were expressing preference for a Three-States based Nigeria, a position they elucidated at the All-Nigeria Constitutional Conference in Ibadan in January 1950, preparatory to the take-off of the MacPherson Constitution.

Back in Benin, the fear and resentment of the Ogboni was amplified the suspicion that it was some sort of mechanism for the Yoruba infiltration and control of Benin society [Abiodun Aloba:  It is a choice between Ogboni and Benin. Daily Times, October 1^st, 1951, p8].   This later became the template for a popular uprising.  Many who had tormented Oba Akenzua in the difficult days of the 1930s and early forties became royalist. The “Reformed Benin Community” noted above, later evolved, first to “Otu-Adolo” and then to “Otu-Edo” on March 15^th, 1950, specifically, according to J. Osadolo Edomwonyi, to “counter the excesses of the ill-motivated activities of the so-called Taxpayers Association cum Ogboni.” [Edomwonyi, op. cit]   After a crack-down by Obaseki against local demonstrations, a delegation of leaders led by E. O. Imafidon was sent to Lagos to invite Humphrey Omo-Osagie back to Benin from a meeting in Lagos, to lead the Otu-Edo.  The new party was dedicated to the “development of Benin and the unification of all Edo-speaking peoples of Nigeria.”  In its constitution it also said it would promote “a sense of nationalism among the people of Benin” and combat threats to “the structures of our laws and custom” and “national unity.”  [Orobosa Oronsaye: Cultural Organisation and Political Development – The case of the Otu-Edo.  University of Ibadan, Department of History, June 1977.]

It was in this context that the Otu-Edo party was formed in a crisis atmosphere, to support the Oba in his fight against the taxpayers association under Iyase Gaius Obaseki at the local level while mobilizing support for the Midwest State Movement at the provincial level. [Otu-Edo Union, File No. 1170/1 National Archives, Ibadan]   Although, there were some initial problems with key NCNC leaders like Ernest Ikoli, Mbonu Ojike and Nnamdi Azikiwe, some of whom were suspected of being members of the ROF in Lagos, Otu-Edo later entered into an alliance with the NCNC at the national level.   Meanwhile, at the local level in Benin, according to Professor Igbafe:

“……..the Ogboni allied with the Action Group founded by Chief Obafemi Awolowo out of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa in Yorubaland…”

How did all this play out? 

After Otu-Edo was created, another political party, called the Benin Action Group was created in Benin in March 1951, in response to the activities of Bode Thomas mentioned earlier.  They were both opposed to Ogbonism in Benin politics, as crystallized, in their opinion, by the Benin Community Taxpayers Association. Indeed both parties overlapped and shared membership.  

In the weeks preceding the formal launching of the united “Action Group” at Owo from April 28 – 30, 1951, Anthony Enahoro had organized a meeting of Benin and Warri leaders of thought in Sapele, ostensibly to discuss Midwestern solidarity.   People like Gaius Obaseki, Arthur Prest, Festus Edah (Okotie-Eboh), Okorodudu, S. O. Ighodaro etc. were present.  At the meeting, most participants expressed sentiments against the creation of a separate midwestern region.   However, two dissenters, Chike Ekwuyasi and E. O. Imafidon who were present, rushed back to Benin to alert Omo-Osagie who then called a rally of his own and initiated counter-measures [Oronsaye, op. cit.; Uwaifo, op. cit].

On April 28, delegates from Benin and Warri provinces attended the main Action Group conference at Owo, at which merger of the Midwestern and Western components was accomplished.  Gauis Obaseki emerged as the Vice President for Benin Province, S.O. Ighodaro, as Treasurer, Anthony Enahoro as Assistant Secretary, while Arthur Prest and W. E. Mowarin emerged as Vice Presidents from the Warri province.  However, Benin Action Group delegates, like D.N. Oronsaye, C. N. Ekwuyasi, S. O. Ighodaro, and others, who were not members of the Reformed Ogboni Fraternity, opposed Gaius Obaseki’s election at Owo.  When they returned, the Benin Action Group dissociated themselves from Chief Awolowo’s Action group and later allied themselves with H Omo-Osagie’s Otu-Edo party in what was known as Otu-Edo/Benin Action Group Grand Alliance.  Iyase Obaseki, now Vice President for the Awolowo Action group, moved immediately, some say ruthlessly, to consolidate his hold on Benin division [Oronsaye. Op. cit.].

The stage was set, therefore, for a bitterly fought council election, which took place in December 1951.  The period preceding it was associated with waves of violence, including arson and murder, in an uprising against the Awolowo Action Group/Benin Taxpayers Association/Ogboni known locally as “Airen Egbe Ason”, meaning “people do not recognize each other at night”.   Beginning in July, but with its high point on September 6^th, it was allegedly triggered by actions of two members of the “Ogboni Action group”, namely Iyare and Obazee, at Evbowe in Isi district. [File 1818/6/B National Archives, Ibadan]    Farmers who opposed the Ogboni were allegedly mobilized and concentrated at Eguaholor from where they proceeded to burn down the houses of leaders of the Ogboni in villages all over Isi district.   The epidemic breakdown of law and order necessitated massive mobilization of Policemen to many parts of rural Benin province [File B.D. 1818/7. Benin Situation Report. National Archives, Ibadan].  Many were detained, subsequently charged to court, fined and even jailed.  GCM Onyiuke, Charles Idigbe, and Mr. S. O. Ighodaro, then the Secretary of the Benin Action group, comprised the legal team hired by Otu-Edo to defend its members.

Nevertheless, after the mayhem, with the Ogboni infrastructure broken in the rural areas, Otu-Edo, under Humphrey Omo-Osagie, with the Oba as its patron, came to power in Benin in 1952 - while at the regional level, the Awolowo Action Group dominated the legislature in Ibadan.   The Macpherson Constitution replaced the Richards Constitution in 1952. It created a central legislature that was called the House of Representatives and initially led to false hopes that a quick mechanism for States Creation would be established.  Meanwhile, Oba Akenzua had to preside over the residual bitterness that accompanied the recruitment drive for ROF, followed by the uprising of 1951 in Benin division.  It tore families and communities apart.  However, with no justification intended for the violence, had Chief Humphrey Omo-Osagie not come to power that year to align the “new elite” with the “traditional leadership”, the subsequent unified role of Benin as the heartland of the agitation for the creation of the Midwest may never have seen the light.

When the Western House of Assembly opened in January 1952, 21 out of 24 Midwesterners were allied with the NCNC while three – S.O. Ighodaro, Arthur Prest, and Anthony Enahoro - were allied with the Action Group.   One immediate source of irritation was the government’s official pamphlet, which insensitively described the Parliamentary Mace with four ceremonial swords as representing the authority of Yoruba Chiefs.  To aggravate matters, when the unicameral Western House of Assembly was formally declared open by then Lt. Governor Sir Hugo Marshall, the Alake of Abeokuta, rose to speak immediately after Sir Marshall and said:

“On my right sits the Oni of Ife; On my left, the Leader of our Government, Obafemi Awolowo. The Voice of the West is complete.” [Hansard of Western House of Assembly: January 7, 1952]

In other words, as the delegates from Benin and Delta saw it, the “voice of the West” did not include those of the people of Benin and Delta provinces.  To compound matters, Benin and Delta delegates later complained too about derogatory epithets that had allegedly been hurled at them, such as “KoboKobo”, used to refer to persons (or barbarians) whose diction cannot be understood.  [File BP/2328/1 National Archives, Ibadan]

From this point on, the Oba of Benin, Akenzua II, supported by the Benin and Warri (Delta) legislative delegation, began openly touring Benin and other Divisions of Benin province as well as the Delta province to campaign for the Midwest (Central) region.  According to Professor Michael Crowder:

“In the Western region, as a reaction against the allegedly Yoruba-dominated Action group, the Mid-West State movement was started, supported largely by non-Yoruba-speaking peoples and in particular the people of the old Benin Empire.”  [M Crowder: The Story of Nigeria. 3^rd Edition, 1972. Faber]

Indeed, at the very next Benin Provincial Conference at Ogwashi-Uku in June 1952, attended by pro-Midwesterners like JO Odigie of Ishan, Chike Ekwuyasi of Benin and Dennis Osadebay of Asaba, separatist sentiments were strongly expressed, resulting in the creation of the “Central State Congress”.    [File BP/2328/1 National Archives, Ibadan] One of the criticisms of the Western region government was the alleged decision to spend 225,000 pounds in Awolowo’s home province of Ijebu with a population of 383,000, as compared with 169,000 pounds in the Benin province with a population of 624,000.  Subsequently, a subgroup known as the Committee of the Midwest Organization emerged under R.O. Odita.

Before the end of 1952 another significant event occurred.  It was the decision of the Action Group government based in Ibadan to restore the title of the ‘Olu of Itsekiri’ to ‘Olu of Warri’ as it had been known in previous centuries.  Non-Itsekiris in Warri Province reacted violently, concerned that there was an implication of suzerainty over the whole province.  Thus a compromise was reached.  In exchange for acceptance of the designation of the Olu as ‘Olu of Warri’, the province was renamed ‘Delta province’. [personal papers, Alfred O. Rewane]   In spite of this compromise, the experience soured the relationship between many Urhobo leaders of thought and the Action group leadership, which they felt, had been beholden to a powerful Itsekiri lobby.  It served to drive Urhobos, already so inclined, further into the warm embrace of the Midwest Separatist Movement.

Back in Benin, another one of the many clashes between H. Omo-Osagie and Gaius Obaseki was playing out.  In 1953, Otu-Edo got Iyase Obaseki deposed as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Benin Divisional Council allegedly for not attending meetings. His Orderly and Police escorts were withdrawn and monthly salaries stopped [Oronsaye, Op. Cit.].  However, the Oba did not cooperate in the attempt to strip him of his title as Iyase, allegedly for not performing the rites of the office.  Thus Obaseki retained his title as Iyase – although he never really performed the formal traditional ceremonies of acceptance of the title in the first place.  Nevertheless, colonial authorities removed the Resident in Benin province, Mr. H. Butcher for his role in during and after the controversial Iyase affair of 1948.

In July/August 1953, Councilor J. Osadolo Edomwonyi moved a motion in the Benin Divisional Council praying the Constitutional Conference in London to include on its agenda, the creation of a separate region for the Benin and Delta provinces [Edomwonyi, Op. Cit.].  However, overshadowed by a bitter fight between Obafemi Awolowo of the Western region and Nnamdi Azikiwe of the Eastern region over excision of Lagos on one hand and Southern Cameroons on the other, creation of new States was overruled at the London Constitutional conference [Report of the Conference on the Nigerian Constitution, held in London, July-August, 1953 Cmnd. 8934, (London: H.M.S.O., 1953, p4)].  When he returned from London, Chief Omo-Osagie briefed Oba Akenzua II, who then made arrangements to host a conference of traditional and political leaders of the Benin and Delta provinces on September 18, 1953 in Benin City.  Anthony Enahoro, S. O. Ighodaro, Arthur Prest and the Olu of Warri boycotted this well attended meeting.  In his address, Oba Akenzua II said, among other things that Midwesterners were seeking freedom, “not only from the white man, but also from foreign african nations…”  He went on to state that,

“Benin-Delta was a sovereign nation before the occupation of the country by the British.”   Akenzua also said, “The divide and rule policy of the British Government had done much harm to the national solidarity of Benin-Delta Province in the past but as God now wants things to be what they were before the advent of the British Government, that is, the Yoruba State for the Yorubas and Benin-Delta State for the “BENDELITES”, that is, the inhabitants of the Benin-Delta Province, steps should now be taken without further delay or fear to move the British Government to repair the damage they have done by restoring the national status of Benin-Delta Province before they transfer power back to the Nigerians from whom they have taken it.”

Mr. JIG Onyia of Asaba then moved a motion, which said inter-alia:

“Be it resolved, and it is hereby resolved that:

1.   We (the peoples of Benin-Delta Province) in a conference holding at Benin City this 18^th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifty three, demand as of right an immediate creation of a separate State for the peoples of Benin-Delta Province…….”   [Edomwonyi, Op. Cit.]

Spurred on by stronger and stronger perceptions of discrimination in the West, exemplified by matters such as the state ment of Alake of Egbaland in 1952, Adegoke Adelabu’s emergence over Osadebay as NCNC leader of Opposition in the West, threats of Western regional control of Midwestern forests, etc. H Omo-Osagie urged the assembly to create a “party which will serve as the Vanguard in the battle for the Midwest.”  The envisioned party was to be independent of parties based in other regions.  After overruling an alternative concept put forward by JIG Onyia of Asaba, that the organization so created should be a “movement” rather than a “political party”, the Benin Delta Political Party (BDPP) was created. It was to function under the patronage of a President General (Oba Akenzua II) and six Vice Presidents (Ogirrua of Irrua, Emeni of Obiaruku, Ovie of Ughelli, Momodu of Agbede, Ovie of Effurun and Ogenieni of Uzairue).  Members of the Executive Committee were D.E. Odiase, T.O. Elaiho, G. Brass Ometan, J. W. Amu, J. D. Ifode, J. Igben, Martins Adebayo, John Uzo, H. O. Uwaifo and Barrister Gabriel Edward Longe. Chief Oweh later replaced JD Ifode.  Other BDPP stalwarts included Onogie Enosegbe II of Ewohimi, E. A. Lamai of Fugar and Martins Adebayo of Akoko-Edo. [File Ben Prof 2/BP/3022, National Archives, Ibadan]

Oba Akenzua II subsequently notified the Western House of Chiefs of this development, quipping, “I think that the Benin Delta State can succeed very well without being tied to the apron strings of the Yoruba State.”  He also said “The fact is the Benin/Delta People’s Party will not allow the Benin/Delta State to be annexed to the Yoruba State whether the North and the East are broken into small States or not.” [Western House of Chiefs Debates, Oct. 20, 1953]  Then he proceeded to lead a series of tours all over the Midwest to campaign for the Midwestern region.  Such tours were undertaken in December 1953, February and May 1954.  The BDPP hinged its success on the prestige of various traditional rulers, inspite of undercurrents of tension with some western Ibo, specifically Asaba leaders like F. Utomi and G Onyia, who issued public statements after the Western Igboid Conference of December 1953, that Asaba people should not attend BDPP meetings.  In his memoirs, Dennis Osadebay says “they feared that the creation of the region would mean the resuscitation of the old Benin Kingdom and it’s alleged oppressive rule and domination of minorities.” [DC Osadebay:  Building a Nation: An Autobiography. MacMillan, 1978.]

In 1954, Obafemi Awolowo became Premier of the Western region under the 1954 Constitution that created the Federation of Nigeria. At the same time Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh of Warri, representing the NCNC, became the Regional Minister of Labour and Welfare.  Dennis Osadebay emerged as NCNC Opposition leader in the West, while V.I. Amadasun became NCNC Chief Whip.  Meanwhile the BDPP relied increasingly on the local NCNC operational infrastructure, even while foreswearing any party links in public. As time went on, therefore, pressure grew from within the BDPP to formally ally the party with the NCNC – which the Oba was opposed to.  Meanwhile there were unconfirmed rumors at the end of 1954 that the Oba had reached a secret deal with Chief Awolowo. [Michael Vickers, Ethnicity and Sub-Nationalism in Nigeria, p93]   Concerned about these rumours, Chief Omo-Osagie decided to ignore the General Secretary of Otu-Edo, Mr. J. Osadolo Edomwonyi, who had close links to the Palace, and unilaterally nominate Mr. Eric Imafidon to contest the All-Nigerian Parliamentary elections.  Both Omo-Osagie and Imafidon defeated Edomwonyi’s “Oba of Benin BDPP faction” candidates. [Uwaifo, Op. Cit.;  Oronsaye, Op. Cit.]

The Action Group had in the meantime conceptualized a plan to seize political control of Benin by co-opting the Oba and destroying Chief H Omo-Osagie.  

According to testimony from Dr. Obas. J. Ebohon,

“My father was the personal driver of Chief Omo-Osagie through out his political career and what both himself and B2 went through before, during, and after the creation of Mid-West is unimaginable and sometimes better than some of 007 epic films.  My father once told me that the journeys to and from the Western House of Assembly in Ibadan was the type of journeys one makes to and from the battle field. Firstly, they never exceeded four people and they travelled by Bedford Lorry instead of a car to which his status demanded. The reason for this was security as his life was threatened openly by those enraged by his demands for Mid-West State. He said on approaching Ore, they would disembark and B2 would come out of the comfortable second row and climb into the back of the Bedford lorry and be covered with trampoline and that is where he would remain through the numerous roadblocks put out to hunt him down and, that is how he would remain until they arrive Ibadan. Sometimes, for the need to confuse his detractors, he would be hidden in lorries carrying plantain to Ibadan and guess where he would be sitting - buried among the plantain and that is how he remains until the outskirts of Ibadan and be transferred into the Bedford lorry again. On numerous occasions they escaped death with the skin of his teeth. My father indicated that when they are travelling, it usually was like preparing for a funeral at B2's house and those of his entourage and the worst is expected and, when they return unharmed, it was jubilation.” (Source:  OJ Ebohon. Edo-Nation Egroup, July 5, 2002. RE: [Edo-Nation] The Last Edo Political Titan: Chief Humphrey Omo-Osagie)

Under these circumstances, on March 8^th, 1955, Obafemi Awolowo invited Oba Akenzua II for a meeting in Ibadan.  According to the minutes of the meeting, Chief Awolowo told Oba Akenzua II to disengage himself from politics before it becomes a disadvantage.  Awolowo told him that he had planned to preserve the position of traditional rulers as an "important part of the social and spiritual life of the people" outside the political arena.   In response, Oba Akenzua II politely but firmly drew a distinction between politics and his activities with the Midwest State movement. He went further to query why the Ooni of Ife and the Alake of Abeokuta were open supporters and contributors to the Action Group but were not being similarly advised.  Awolowo reacted by promising to give other Obas similar advice, but also told Oba Akenzua II to go back to Benin and seriously reflect over his comments.  [National Archives, Ibadan; File B.P.215 Correspondence with the Oba of Benin.]

This meeting between Oba Akenzua and Chief Awolowo was to presage a complex series of intrigues that would unfold in the next few months.  Just as Chief H Omo-Osagie was to leave for Lagos in March 1955 to take up a new position as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, he was involved in a factional split with a sub-faction of the Edomwonyi group led by A.G. Bazuaye within the Otu-Edo [Otu-Edo Secretariat: Confusion in the Otu Edo. March 4, 1955]. This was coming to a head just as the mandate of the Benin Native Authority Council was expiring.   The Action Group Government in Ibadan refused to renew the mandate of the council, preferring instead to appoint a provisional caretaker council.  This caretaker committee was under the chairmanship of the Oba, but consisted of a mixture of the pro-Action Group Bazuaye faction of Otu-Edo and elements of Iyase Gaius Obaseki’s pro-Action Group Benin Tax Payers Association, pending new elections.  The new provisional council included well-known Action Groupers like S.Y. Eke and V.O.E. Osula [Benin Native Authority Files 730/4 (April 2, 1955) and 730/5 (May5, 1955)].  It increased the salary of the Oba in a move that appeared to signal a rapprochement between Oba Akenzua and Iyase Gauis Obaseki.  It was hoped that the Oba would cooperate with an alliance of the Bazuaye and Obaseki groups to oust Omo-Osagie from power.  But the Oba wanted some kind of public indication that the Action Group would stop being ambivalent or even hostile toward the creation of the Midwest. 

Therefore, on June 14^th, 1955, a legislator, MS Sowole, moved a motion, seconded by JG Ako, a minister of state, which was carried in the Western House of Assembly titled “Creation of a Separate State for Benin and Delta Provinces.”  Chief Awolowo’s curious reaction to this development on the floor of the House was to announce that “the Government adopts no official attitude whatsoever” towards the Sowole motion [Western House of Assembly Debates, 14 June, 1955]. 

According to Professor Michael Crowder, at this stage, the Action Group:

 “…..gave its blessing to this movement, partly because it was beginning to find the Mid-West an electoral and economic liability and partly because it realized that if it were to champion the creation of new states in the Eastern and Northern Regions it could hardly object to the creation of one in the Western region itself.”   

The problem, though, was that the Action group was never trusted by core Midwest Protagonists, who saw opportunism and duplicity in its behavior. Dennis Osadebay, for example, was of the opinion that the Sowole motion was little more than a vote catching gimmick to secure victory at the 1955 and 1956 general elections [Osadebay, Op. Cit.].  In time to come his suspicions would be confirmed when, after independence, Chief Awolowo openly said that the Sowole motion was not binding on the Western region.

It was in this situation that local government elections took place in Benin in September 1955.  Once again, Chief Omo-Osagie and the Otu-Edo were victorious [Oronsaye, Op. Cit.].  A few weeks later, on October 25^th, 1955 Oba Akenzua was appointed Minister without portfolio in Awolowo’s government at Ibadan – an announcement that practically destroyed the BDPP.  The Oba explained that henceforth he would use his membership of the Action group Government of the Western region to push for the creation of the Midwest.  In response, members of Otu-Edo in Benin staged a mock funeral of the Oba right in front of his Palace.

Meanwhile, according to Michael Vickers, in December 1955, western Ibo leaders, not unmindful of developments in Benin, but also confident in their trained manpower advantage over others, decided that a future Midwest would best serve their interests, rather than either the West or East.  Thus they began renegotiating the terms of renewed cooperation with the now moribund BDPP.  [Vickers: Ethnicity and Sub-Nationalism in Nigeria. Worldview Publishing, 2000.  p121]   Thus, inspite of his stature as the earliest and most consistently committed advocate of the Midwest cause, H. Omo-Osagie would later concede the leadership of the Midwest State Movement to Dennis Osadebay, also known as the “Gentleman Leader of the Opposition” in exchange for support. 

 In January 1956, the Oba removed himself as a Patron of Otu-Edo, and stopped making public demands for the creation of the Midwest, hoping to achieve it, nonetheless, by some kind of internal understanding with Chief Awolowo’s government.   The Oba’s high stakes moves throughout 1955 caused a lot of mistrust within Otu-Edo as well as pro-Midwest sympathizers in other parties.  But Oba Akenzua remained convinced that his presence in the government was the tactical thing to do in the circumstances.  He would give Chief Awolowo time to fulfill his promise.   In February, he hosted the Queen at the Benin Airport and made a point of emphasizing the uniqueness of the grand Benin-Delta reception.   Tragically, Iyase Gaius Obaseki died in April and was mourned throughout the region as a man of great stature.  [Egharevba, Op. Cit.]

Another development in the Western Regional Assembly that created consternation in the Benin and Delta provinces was the attempt in 1956 to enforce Yoruba as a language medium in all schools throughout ALL the provinces.  The British Lt. Governor, Sir John Rankine, vetoed compulsory implementation in the Benin and Delta provinces, explaining that it was a time–bomb.  It is not clear what role Oba Akenzua II  played in securing this veto. [personal communication, D. A. Omoigui]

On May 5, 1956, the Midwest State Movement (MSM) was inaugurated from the ashes of the BDPP.  Its patron was the Obi of Agbor. Members of the Executive Committee were Dennis Osadebay (Leader), Chief H. Omo-Osagie (Deputy Leader), J. E. Otobo (Secretary), G.E. Odiase, O. Oweh, F. Oputa-Otutu and M.A. Kubeinje.  Its legal advisers were A. Atake, M. Edewor, W. Egbe, GE Longe, and JM Udochi.  [JA Brand. The Midwest State Movement in Nigerian Politics. Political Studies, Vol. XIII, 3 (1965), p351] In preparation for the September 1956 London Constitutional Conference, the MSM embarked on fund raising drives and political tours through the Delta and Benin provinces [Vickers, Op. Cit.].   It also began developing detailed arguments to justify the creation of a new region.  Such arguments included the proposed region’s distinct way of life, various examples of discrimination including allocation of funds to various line items in the budget.  The proposed region’s economic viability was also studied, taking note of its agricultural base, Rubber, Timber, Palm oil, brown coal, water resources, ports and its capacity to create secondary industries from the African Timber and Plywood Factory in Sapele.  The conference was, however, later deferred until 1957. 

Meanwhile on May 26, during Western parliamentary regional elections in Benin, Otu-Edo secured victory once again.  Notably, G.I. Oviasu of Otu-Edo/NCNC defeated S.O. Ighodaro of the Action Group and the Oba’s second son, Felix Akenzua, lost to VI Amadasun.  One irritant during this election was the complaint that many students from the Benin and Delta provinces at the University College Ibadan were so mistrusted by Action group operatives on campus that their names were surreptitiously removed from voters’ registration lists in Ibadan.  

LONDON CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE OF 1957

During the 1957 London Constitutional Conference, the MSM declared that it would be willing to accept a plebiscite in the Benin-Delta area.  However, efforts by the MSM to insist that the creation of states be discussed before self-government were outflanked as the NCNC and AG resisted any effort to create new states in their own regions [Report by the Nigeria Constitutional Conference held in London, May and June 1957. Cmnd. 207. London: HMSO, 1957].   The AG, for example, accused the NCNC of stalling about the proposed COR State because of the possibility of discovery of Oil, even as it was busy proposing regions elsewhere.  The NPC was also uninterested in the creation of new regions in the North.