RedboneSmith:
I guess the first thing I should say here is to respond to the question: why didn't Ewuare seek refuge in Agbor?

As a matter of fact, according to Agbor oral traditions, Ewuare actually did seek refuge at Agbor and not at Issele-Uku. I don't know how Aisen came to the conclusion that Ewuare fled to Issele-Uku; I'll very much like to read his book and his sources. Issele-Uku doesn't have traditions of Ewuare coming to their town, but Agbor does. Read the history of Agbor compiled by Iduuwe. Agbor tradition goes as far as to say that Ewuare's mother came from Agbor and that Ewuare merely took refuge at his mother's village.

Issele-Uku's dynastic connection with Benin came in the 18th century, during the time of Akenzua. Nowadays, Issele-Uku tries to pretend their Benin connection is much older by claiming it goes as far back as Oba Ewedo. If you look at a list of Issele-Uku kings, there was no Benin name until the 8th king called Odia. This indicates the point at which the kingdom began to forge/cement dynastic links with Benin, probably under Akenzua.

AreaFada2:


Samuk, the way history has been rewritten by those tribes that the British favoured after 1897 and benefitted initially from 1914 amalgamation and post-independence, is beginning to miseducate some Edo people. Say around 1986, if I greeted elderly people "Lamogun or La'Umogun", they will recite the "oriki", uwaenmwen or praise of Umogun descendants. I would have to politely wait for them to finish before proceeding on my merry way. My experience as a young chap. Edohen, Ero, Elawure, Ezomo and other descendants also have their oriki. A chap who greets Lamogun today might even get a reply in Pidgin English from the elder.

Kids today may not even know that there is something like oriki.
Edo people brought up in Lagos are helping to spread the myth that Edo people come from Yoruba. That is how their "accommodating" hosts educated them.

For anyone to use languages or dialects spoken today in various districts of former Benin Empire to decide or conjure up what the origins or demographics of those areas were around 1440-1473 when Oba Ewuare I reigned, is an abysmal disservice to scholarship and common sense.

But at least the guy has enough fantasy and attempted to think, albeit being misguided.

odigbosky:



He said every Iyase of Benin once installed greets Lavbieze...He said the Eze is in relation to Eze Chima. He said Chima was once an Iyasere and he was not from Benin but present day Delta state...

RedboneSmith:


The Iyase in question, who is remembered as Eze n'obodo iken (which means "the Eze who hails from a powerful state" could not have been Eze Chima, but he came from an Eze Chima-affiliated community.

Eze Chima lived in the time of Esigie (remembered in Anioma as Asije) with whom he was locked in butter conflict. The Iyase in question was appointed in the time of Orhogbua. His identity is not clearly known: there are traditions that he came from Onicha-Olona, but he could have come from Issele-Uku.

samuk:


Bishop Crowder on the Niger mission, 1875, page 538.

odigbosky:



You're one of the few Edo figures I respect here on Nairaland. Been on this platform for over 10 years. I made a post only to share my thoughts. My field in life is in the sciences.

I always believe that no one side has the complete history of the other side. I don't believe the Benins know everything even about people in Etsako land.

Just recently I watched a video on ITV's page on YouTube when the Esogban of Benin was talking about salutations in Benin for different families.

He said his family greets La'uhe in relation to them coming from Uhe.

He said every Iyase of Benin once installed greets Lavbieze...He said the Eze is in relation to Eze Chima. He said Chima was once an Iyasere and he was not from Benin but present day Delta state...

He also said the Ezomo greets Lagiesan because of ties to Esan land.

So I will love you to talk about the greetings of the Iyasere and also the Oriki attached to it.


As for Samuk who questions my Edo blood.
I am Edo, proud one for that matter.

Nobody here knows everything or every historical piece. We are all learning. What I shared here was my own thoughts. Nothing else.

samuk:


It's almost impossible for you to use your present day observations to explain events of 300 years ago let alone 500 years ago. The world was a complete different place then. Your writeup is ridden with you think, you think....you will probably also think that the present king of England is of English ancestry because he speaks English and he is the king of England. The world doesn't or didn't work like that.

You need to read more and do more research if you really want to learn instead of formulating your own theories using limited knowledge from your today's observations.

In 1875 for example, Samuel Ajayi Crowder visited Asaba and documented that there were large Igbo migrating to Asaba and the indigene were fast loosing their Edo language, although few Edo words were still being used. This is 1875 and you are trying to think and formulate theories about what happened during the reign of Oba Ewuare more than 500 years ago. During the reign of Oba Ewuare, that entire area and beyond were mostly populated by Edo people before they were overwhelmed by other migrants.

The above reference is a eye witness historical account of someone that was on ground in Asaba in 1875 and wrote what he saw, not what he thought. Although you will read Igbo writers that wrote in the 1900s claiming Asaba as original Igbo town.

There are people that still claim Benin ancestry all over the South South to the middle belt, in comparison, Delta North was just another Benin empire towns and villages. The king we now know as Obi of Obolukwu was known in Benin as Ogie Oboro, if the title Obi existed then, Benin would have known and call him Obi Oboro. Perhaps you should ask yourself why the current king of Agbor changed his title from Obi of Agbor to Dein of Agbor and what was the title during Oba Ewuare, 500 years ago.