The Olu of Warri is the elder brother to the Oba of Benin

The Benin's recent distortion of history is irritating and disgusting.

The Oba of Benin is the junior brother of the Olu of Warri; he is not the uncle or father of the Olu of Warri, as the lies recently told by the Binis.

Oba Oluwa/Olua linage didn’t end with Ginuwa it continued through his last born son Oba Ojoluwa/ozolua.

Let us discuss the history of the first Olu of Warri, Ginuwa.

The First Olu Of Warri Kingdom

Born around 1445 to Prince Nuwa of Benin, the son of Oba Ewuare (1440–1473), the ruler of the Benin Kingdom, Prince Ginuwa, as he was known then, was the oldest of three children born to Prince Nuwa (Onuwa/Oluwa). Ginuwa and his sister, Princess Iyeifo, were born to an Olukumi mother, and their brother was born to a Benin mother.

Ginuwa grew up in the Benin royal court in the company of his grandfather, the Oba, and his father, Prince Nuwa.

According to Jacob U. Egharevba's History of Benin, page 21, Prince Nuwa, later known as Oba Olua/Oluwa, was a kind and generous king. He was noted to be one of the most generous kings of Benin. Sometimes he paid the debts of his subjects when he found out that they couldn't afford to pay their debtors. Ginuwa, his son, on the other hand, was a proud and assertive prince, a trait that made the Benin chiefs dislike him. Ginuwa hated many practices of Benin kingdom and planned to abolish all those traditions he deemed devilish if he became Oba. This got to the ears of the chiefs, who then cast their favors on Ginuwa’s younger brother.

Oba Oluwa/Olua, knowing that the Benin chiefs hated his son, decided to send him away to form his own kingdom. The Oba summoned a Council meeting of his seventy Chiefs of the kingdom and told them of his intention to send a sacrifice in an Iroko Box to the water, via Ugharegin, and requested their assistance by allowing their firstborn sons to accompany the sacrifice. They all agreed and did as their Oba desired, and on the appointed day, the Iroko Box was conveyed down to Ugharegin, where it was placed on the shore, near the water. Ginuwa planted his staff in Ugharegin to demarcate his kingdom from that of his father. Oba Oluwa gave Ginuwa the official crown of the Benin kingdom and gave him the official regalia of the Benin kingdom. His father hailed him as king. (We will come back to this story some other time).

Olu Ginuwa was the first son of Oba Oluwa/Olua, and his junior brother, who later became Oba Ojoluwa/Ozolua, was the last son of Oba Oluwa/Olua.

Years after Olu Ginuwa left Benin, his uncle Okpame, the elder brother of his father, took over the Benin throne shortly after the death of Oba Oluwa/Olua, Ginuwa's father. His uncle became known as Oba Ebowani. A civil war occurred in the Benin kingdom, which was won by Ginuwa's younger brother Ojoluwa/Ozolua. It was during this war that Ojoluwa/Ozolua dared his elder brother Ginuwa by sending armies to Warri in 1485 to retrieve the crown his father gave to his elder brother Ginuwa and also retrieve the chiefs of Warri. However, the armies realized they couldn't win against Warri as it was surrounded by water and they couldn't swim.

They never initiated the fight; instead, they settled and founded the Okere community.

The narrative that the lineage of the current Oba of Benin is the uncle to the lineage of the Olu of Warri is 100% false. Let me provide you with facts and evidence to support my claims.

The Benins claimed their Oba is senior after the coronation of Olu Atuwatse II (1987-2015) in 1987. They removed Oba Ebowani (Ginuwa's uncle) from their list of kings and stated that Ozolua (Ginuwa's younger brother) is Ginuwa's uncle, which is untrue. Ref: See "The list of Benin Kings" written by Captain Roupell, given to him by the Benin chiefs in 1898.

The erasing of Oba Ebowani's name began in 1930.

Even when Benin’s lied about what caused Ginuwa to leave Benin in the 1800s, they told the Europeans that Ginuwa is the elder and Ozolua became the oba. Ref: See "Great Benin; its art and customs" by H. LING ROTH.

In Great Benin; it's art and customs by H. LING ROTH

He had this to say “I was told in Benin that a similar instance led to the foundation of Warri. The younger was first declared king. The elder when he grew up, though the brothers were friends, saw that they could not live in the same place, so emigrated to Warri, and established another kingdom….. The Warri branch was not tributary. It is curious that though the Jekri chiefs were undoubtedly of Benin origin, and of the royal line, the Jekri people are evidently more Yoruba than Benin.”

Capitaine Landolphe said this: "The division having broken up among two? brothers, one of whom reigned in Benin, the other declared himself independent, took up arms, and held on to Owhère." Ref: See "11-1786 Mémoires du Capitaine Landolphe."

In all ancient records from Nyendael, Landolphe, Gallwey, Artus, and ROTH, none of them narrated that the oba of Benin was the uncle to Ginuwa; instead, they referred to them as brothers or elder brother and younger brother.

Nowhere in the records gathered by Europeans, who were eyewitnesses from the people of Benin and Warri kingdoms, did they ever state that the oba of Benin is the uncle to the Olu of Warri. You will only find those lies on websites created by Bini's. There are no records to support their claims.

They claimed that the name Ojoluwa was altered by the Yoruba, asserting that the original name is Ozolua. Can the Bini people explain the meaning of Ozolua in their language, supported by evidence? It’s widely understood that the Bini language lacks the letter "j," substituting it with "z"—for instance, Ijebu becomes Izebu, and Ejomo becomes Ezomo. Similarly, the Oba’s name shifted from Ejoti to Ezoti. Yet, it’s a fact that 90% of Benin Obas’ names are of Yoruba origin. Ginuwa’s father’s true name is Oluwa (meaning "owner of wealth"), not the Bini-modified "Olua," which lacks meaning in their language. Likewise, Ginuwa’s younger brother was named Ojoluwa (meaning "repairer of wealth" in Yoruba), not the Bini version, Ozolua, which also has no significance in Bini.

I harbor no ill will toward the Bini people, but they must refrain from distorting or rewriting our history. The Itsekiri people have a well-documented history, and we will not accept any attempts to alter it. We are not revisionists. We know the origins of our Olu: he came from Benin, was the elder brother of Oba Ojoluwa (from the current Benin royal lineage), and was the firstborn son of Oba Oluwa. We also know his ancestors trace back to Ile-Ife, and he is a direct descendant of the Ooni of Ife. This has always been our history, and it remains unchanged.

In Conclusion:

The lineage of the Olu of Warri is senior to the lineage of the Oba of Benin. This is why we praise our Olú with the phrase "Oba Omi ju Oba Oke" (the king of Warri is senior to the king in the inland). And This is a different appellation from what we call our king, Oba Omi, Oba Oke (the king of water and land).

Please note: Lineage of both Olu and Oba is different from the age of the thrones

By Lord_of_Warri on X (Twitter).

Itsekiri Activist and Historian.

#oluofwarri #warrihistory #warrikingdom #weareitsekiri #ITSEKIRI #itsekirihistory #ginuwa #facts #benin #obaofbenin

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