“RUNAWAY WIVES,” NATIVE LAW AND CUSTOM IN BENIN, AND EARLY COLONIAL COURTS, NIGERIA

The Edo-speaking peoples today are found in much the same area of southwestern Nigeria that was the center of the Benin kingdom up to the end of the 19th century. From the early 16th to late 17th century the kingdom extended to the west, beyond Lagos to the present Republic of Benin, and east across southern Nigeria to beyond the Niger River. Benin City has always been the heart of the culture and the political capital of the kingdom and the empire. In recent years the city and surrounding area have become even more diverse with many ethnic groups in traditional Benin territory on farms, in businesses, schools, hospitals, and trades in towns and the city. Religious institutions in the city include numerous mosques, churches, evangelical groups, and missionaries from around the world, as well as local indigenous shrines and masquerades, and rituals of central worship at the Oba's Palace. Oba Erediauwa, the present traditional ruler of some 2 million Edo-speaking peoples in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has as one of his important roles the adjudicating of disputes involving people, land, and inheritance based on native law and custom. People today can go to Customary Court in such disputes, but many seek resolution at the Oba's Palace, when family meetings and the efforts of local elders and chiefs prove unsatisfactory to one or the other parties. Anyone unsatisfied with the Oba's decision still has recourse to the courts, but his decisions have yet to be over-ruled by the judiciary. Oba Erediauwa, like his forebears, was trained by senior chiefs from childhood for the pre-destined role of spiritual and temporal head of the Edo-speaking peoples. Unlike his forebears he was also educated in England and read law at Kings College, Cambridge University.a In precolonial times the Oba had sole power over life and death. His Palace in Benin City was the center of a tropical rainforest empire that dominated much of what is today southern Nigeria, from medieval times. The site of the Oba's Palace, which has been dated to the 13th century, is possibly as old as the 11th century (Connah 1975: 248). To the north and elsewhere in the south the warlike Benins had complex and fractious relations with its neighbors over many centuries. The Benin kingdom which expanded and contracted over time has always included various ethnic groups within its shifting political and cultural boundaries. The kingdom's independence was finally ended by a British military expedition in 1897, ushering in colonial rule. The exiled Oba of Benin, Oba Ovonramwen, died in eastern Nigeria in 1913. The British then found it expedient to bring his son and heir to the throne, crowned Oba Eweka II, in 1914. Benin territory had been administered locally in the absence of the Oba (1897–1914), through a group of chiefs approved by the British, led by Chief Obaseki. The resulting tensions between Obaseki and Oba Eweka II, before and after the restoration, are still remembered in Benin. It was a situation that lasted until Obaseki's sudden death on September 9th, 1920. He had been given the title “Obaseki,” by Oba Ovonramwen. Oba Eweka II, after coming to the throne and seeking to ease tensions, named him the Ivase, leader of the town chiefs; and married one of his daughters to him. Gradually, after 1914, Oba Eweka II reasserted his power, and ruled until 1933. His first son, Oba Akenzua II, occupied the throne for 45 years (1933–1978). Oba Erediauwa (1978–), greatgrandson of Oba Ovonramwen, followed his father, Oba Akenzua II, in a dynastic succession that Benins trace back to the 12th century (Oba Erediauwa, personal communication, December 21, 1990). In the 1952 census a mostly agricultural population was still living in rural areas. The population of Benin City, the seat of the Edos, was then estimated at 50,000. In the 1990 census, Benin City, the capital of Edo State, included over 200,000 diverse peoples.