This photograph was taken at the palace, during the expedition made by the British in 1897. In the background you can see the palace roof with a snake made of brass slithering down it.

This head was part of a brass snake on the palace roof – it was fixed to the roof with its body zigzagging down and its head at the bottom. Fifteen of these snake heads survive. We are not sure if the snakes were meant to be protective pythons or threatening puff adders.




(My own observation: Note the Olokun symbol on the center of the snake's head)

16th Century Benin plaque detail, Nigeria

16th Century Benin plaque detail, Nigeria

http://i.pbase.com/o6/93/329493/1/126240800.ADVE861I.LondonMar10492.jpg

Cast brass head of a Queen Mother, Benin, Nigeria, 16th C.

http://i.pbase.com/o6/93/329493/1/126240805.6Sw5Q0yV.LondonMar10501.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/bmcmorrow/image/126240805

Container in the Shape of a Palace Building
17th - 18th century: The hinged box container in the shape of the palace depicts the king's conference chamber.

18th century: Brass Lidded Container

Benin brass plaque: the King (Oba) on horseback with attendants. 16th century

The Kingdom of Benin (in present day Nigeria) flourished in the 16th century. The Palace in Benin City was decorated with numerous brass plaques depicting life at the royal court. Here, the Oba of Benin is accompanied by two court attendants who support him as he sits 'side-saddle' on a horse led by a groom. The heavy burden of Kingship is evident. British Museum, London, Africa Gallery.

Figure Caption: A high-ranking military chief dominates this 16th century plaque, one of nearly a thousand that decorated Benin palace courtyards. Accompanied by an entourage of lieutenants, musicians and pages prepared to fan him, the chief dances at the palace war festival. Photo: Penn Museum.

Figure Caption: This 19th century ring belonged to the king. Coral and red stone beads are Benin’s most precious materials. Photo: Penn Museum.

Figure Caption: Mastery of ritual medicine was a must for a man who wanted to rise in the palace. Rivals tried to incapacitate each other, whether through social embarrassment or total destruction. This 18th century brass hip pendant has an abstract elephant head over its mouth. It symbolizes power, its trunk (ending in a hand) clutching the leaves that are often used to make medicine. Photo: Penn Museum.

Benin brass head, 19th c.

Benin Brass Plaque

Brass Plaque from the Oba's palace in Benin City. 16th Century.

What I posted earlier:

X-factoria:

Thanks PhysicsMHD. I have resolved the ban issue.

Let me quickly point out a misconception here. You keep getting things mixed up about Ooni's statement featured in this link: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-392592.64.html#msg7726462

"Since Oranmiyan dynasty started in Benin, all the heads of the Obas of Benin on demise were buried in Ife in a sacred place called “Orun-Oba-Ado” up to the year 1900. 4. Records in the archives made it clear that since 1191AD, the Ooni of Ife had to be informed, and clearance must be given by him on the new Oba of Benin to be installed up to 1916"

Ooni mentioned that only the head of the Obas were buried in Ife. It is possible that the bodies were buried in Benin with slaves like you suggested in your previous posts. Ooni may not be wrong here except you can proof that the Oba's heads were buried with them in the graves in Benin.

I feel strongly that very soon either you or me will sponsor an archeological research to unravel the truth about this. Certainly, it has to be so one day.

Let me point out some misconceptions

1. The Orun Oba Ado head claim was completely made up. It was ingenious, I admit, because Ado is definitely a Yoruba word for Benin (Edo). Unfortunately, it is simply not grounded in facts.
Igbo, for example, apart from being a word for forest or bush, is coincidentally the word for an ethnic group or nation that happens to be not too far from the Yoruba and also from the same language family. With the trend that the Ooni of Ife has advocated with regard to Orun Oba Ado, I wonder if he or his descendants will later start complaining if Igbo scholars at some later time exploit the abundance of the word Igbo (forest, bush, etc.) in ancient Yoruba sites, including Ife (Igbo Obameri, for an example of an Ife site) to start claiming that they (Igbos) laid these foundations in ancient times? See how distortion can backfire?

2. Egharevba introduced the claim that Eweka I ordered that upon his death his remains should be taken to Ife and that this was repeated in every third reign after him. There was never any reference to a head. The after death decapitation is precisely the abomination that makes the claim even sillier.
Orun Oba Ado, which supposedly means the spiritual domain of the Oba of Benin, is among the earliest – actually, the earliest – significant archaeological site in Ife, with radiocarbon dates going back to the 6th century AD, from one of Frank Willett’s numerous archaeological excavations in Ife (see 1968. Radiocarbon Dates, WAAN, IX, 73. and 1969. New Radiocarbon Dates for Ife, WAAN, XI, both by Frank Willett. Or, see Archaeology in Nigeria(1969) by Thurstan Shaw if you can’t access those articles.) The only comparable significant archaeological features of Ife are the ancient walls also dated to the 6th century. So 6th century Ife had earthen walls/ramparts and an important foundational site that was already or was to become the "spiritual domain" of Benin?

So if you actually believe that Orun Oba Ado – the supposed spiritual domain of the Oba of Benin or the "the heaven of the kings of Benin"– which is at the heart of Ife near the Ife palace itself (by this I mean that is occupies a much more central location relative to the archaeological remains of Ife and the walls/ramparts of Ife, as contrasted with Ita Yemoo, for example, which is on the periphery) and is conspicuously close to Opa Oranmiyan, is most strongly tied to Benin, surely you can see the implications of this. Backfire #2. Once again, distortion bites the hand that feeds it .

3. You don’t seem to have grasped what a real burial of a king of Benin was like in olden times so let me give it to you in full detail and I hope you can use your immense knowledge of Ifa to divine the point at which the head is taken and enlighten the rest of us:

"Among others, there is in the kingdom of Benin an ancient custom, observed to the present day, that when the king dies, the people all assemble in a large field, in the centre of which is a very deep well, wider at the bottom than at the mouth. They cast the body of the dead king into this well, and all his friends and servants gather round, and those who are judged to have been most dear to and favoured by the king (this includes not a few, as all are anxious for the honour) voluntarily go down and keep him company. When they have done so, the people place a great stone over the mouth of the well, and remain by it day and night. On the second day a few deputies remove the stone, and ask those below what they know, and if any of them have already gone to serve the king; and the reply is, No. On the third day the same question is asked, and someone then replies that so-and-so, mentioning a name, has been the first to go, and so-and-so the second. It is considered highly praiseworthy to be the first, and he is spoken of with the greatest admiration by all the people, and considered happy and blessed. After four or five days all these unfortunate people die. When this is apparent to those above, since none reply to their questions, they inform their new king; who causes a great fire to be lit near the well, where numerous animals are roasted. These are given to the people to eat, and he with great ceremony is declared to be the true king, and takes the oath to govern well." - From the account of a 'Voyage from Lisbona to the island of San Thomé south of the Equator, described by a Portuguese pilot, and sent to his magnificence Count Rimondo della Torre, gentleman of Verona, and translated from the Portuguese into Italian', published in Giovanni Battista Ramusio (1550), and retranslated by Blake (1942), i, pp. 150-1. The account was written in about the year 1540, according to Blake, and 'the author may have been one of the scores of Portuguese pilots who at this time were familiar with the navigation from Lisbon to the island of São Thomé'. - From the book Nigerian Perspectives (2nd ed.) by Thomas Hodgkin

4. “No human remains or artifacts of Benin culture were found in six burials excavated at Arun-Oba-Ado”

The source for this conclusion being Frank Willett’s article in the book The African Iron Age, P. L. SHINNIE, (ed.)

r.i.p.

k9ine:

A charge of N3.2bn theft?
That's an insult to d govt & people of Edo state.
That guy was given a N2bn World Bank Ecological loan to assist in d construction of roads and drainages in d erosion threatened area, from New Benin to the Ikpoba river. He tarred a few, dug some drainages, sand-filled some pot-holes, graded some roads, and that was it.
It was this same guy who told us he used N2,000,000,000 to host OBJ on a 2-day presidential visit to d state.
Same Lucky told us that; "EDUCATION IS A PRIVILEGE NOT A RIGHT."
Lucky should be made to cough out every SINGLE kobo.

Quoted for truth.

honeric01:

^^^^

Are you people thinking at all? this is phucking democracy, he has the FREEDOM to associate with any party he wants, the party can't discriminate against him because he hasn't committed any offense, nor has he broken any law in Nigeria.

Not granting him party membership is an offense on its own, that's a crime, so people think with your head and not with your azzz

The only place to know if he's not liked or not was at the primaries which he won, now let's see if the people of Kano wants him or not during the gubernatorial election.

How is that possibly a crime?


Let me give an example.

If a prominent cult leader wants to run for even a minor office for which there are no primaries on the platform of a certain political party, the party has every right to distance itself from him and prevent him from running under their banner, since having their party associated with any rogues could easily tarnish the entire party's image and have adverse affects on their other candidates and their general political success.

Same thing if a former convict attempts the same, same thing for other unfavorable characters.

As I said before, all across the world, primaries could have 30 people from the party, but they never do. The most presentable and best candidates are approved and then they compete amongst themselves before moving on to compete against people from other political parties.

T9ksy:

More fool him. . . . @ Gen. Ogbemudia.
What does he expect Bisalla- a latent enemy to do with such valuable documents?
He ought to have kept them in a safe place until he can pass them on to a credible fellow indigene to utilise for the benefit of their people.

So with all the moneybags in igboland, he couldn't find anyone to entrust the documents to but Gen Bisalla.
shooooorrrr!!!

1. Ogbemudia is not Igbo.
2. Why was it foolish? Were the Americans fools for previously doing the exact same thing Ogbemudia tried to do? Did it work out for them? Who is Wernher von Braun?
3. How and why was he supposed to consider Bisalla a latent enemy? Please enlighten me.

They should have been reabsorbed if they were willing or wanted to be.

Hmmm. Responded, but spam blocker banned me as it was somewhat long. I might post it in parts under this user name if it doesn't reappear when I'm unbanned.

Aigbofa:

Ogedengbe is from Ilesha, I think.

P.S We are not rascals

I see.

Well, what are the tourist attractions in Ekiti, since that's out of the picture?

fstranger3:

^^^

Ogedengbe is from my home state, Osun.

PhysicsMSTP, pleas dont make that mistake again

Most Ekitis are rascals, just like Aigbofa and Ileke . Ogedengbe couldnt have come from such a rascally group of people

rofl

37. Michael Imoudu (Nigeria's greatest labor rights leader; "Reflecting on his career, the NLC President said that Imoudu was a first class organizer which culminated into the birth not only of Nigeria Railway Union but also of NLC. Particularly, Oshiomhole who pride himself as grandson of Imoudu said his advent of the trade union scene brought unprecedented militancy and a radically activist dimension to the movement.
According to him, Imoudu first came into lime light when he led over 3,000 workers of the railway union to storm the colonial Government House based on some workplace demands. However, right from the incipient stages of his career, he had always aligned workplace demands with the wider interests of Nigerians, especially the imperative of independence from colonial rule.
He said that Imoudu used his railway union platform to build the Nigerian trade union movement. He was president of the All-Nigeria Trade Union Federation from 1947 – 1958 and was the first president of the then Nigeria Labour Congress. "This was a testimony to his unrivalled courage, commitment, discipline, tactical depth, mentoring skills and capacity to organize, which his peers uniformly deferred to"

38. Professor Osato Giwa-Osagie (pioneer of IVF in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa;  http://bridgehealthservices.com/profile.php?id=1&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=400&width=780)





Edo state has to be in the top 5 in terms of quality.

36. Ifueko Omoigui Okauru ("She was valedictorian of her graduating class in the University of Lagos, with the highest number of prizes ever won by any individual in the Faculty of Business Administration and was recognized as a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, and a Chartered Tax Practitioner.

For exemplary service to her country Nigeria, she has been conferred national awards by the Nigerian President twice in seven years. First as Member of the Order of the Niger, MON, in 2000 for amongst others, leading the technical team for the Vision 2010 effort for Nigeria - Nigeria’s effort at developing a long-term strategic plan, the first of its kind in the country. The second national award was that of Member of the Federal Republic, MFR in December 2006, for her achievements in championing tax reforms in Nigeria. In February 2007, she was named the Government Personality of the Year, by the Thisday newspapers. Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Charles Soludo shared the award with her. In November 2007, Omoigui, along with other women who blazed the trail in their fields, was admitted into the Women Hall of Fame by the National Women Centre, Abuja. The FIRS Chairman is the first woman to be Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service. In December 2007, she was named as one of the 50 outstanding graduates of the University of Lagos, UNILAG.

http://www.firsmcs.coop/about%20firs.html

"A quiet revolution is taking place at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) under the able leadership of Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru. Since taking over the tax agency in 2004, she has improved tremendously its performance, its public image and the standard of service delivery. The fundamental reforms and re-engineering efforts that were initiated and implemented by her and her team have continued to yield huge tax revenue for the three tiers of government.

She has, in the last five years of unblemished stewardship and focused and visionary leadership, tripled the total tax revenue accruable to the federal, state and local governments, consistently exceeding revenue targets set by the Federal Ministry of Finance and beating her own records every year. From a total tax revenue of N697.7 billion in 2003 and N1 trillion in 2004, the Omoigui-Okauru-led FIRS raked in N1.8 trillion in 2005, N2 trillion in 2006 and N1.840 trillion in 2007. Records released by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the first nine months of 2008, show a phenomenal increase in tax revenue with a total of N2.3 trillion already in the federation account. What is even more remarkable about Omoigui-Okauru’s achievements is that she and her team have recorded unprecedented increases in both oil and non-oil taxes. Her goal is to diversify the revenue base from petroleum related taxes, which constitutes more than sixty percent of the total tax revenue at the moment, to non-oil taxes. Never in the history of the revenue agency has so much been done within so short a time. "

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/omoigui-okauru-and-the-tax-revolu.html

31. Festus Iyayi (From wikipedia: "He left the shores of Nigeria to pursue his higher education, obtaining a M.Sc in Industrial Economics from the Kiev Institute of Economics, in the former USSR and then his Ph.D from the University of Bradford, England. In 1980, he went back to Benin and became a lecturer in the Department of Business Administration at the University of Benin. As a member of staff of the University, he became interested in radical social issues, and a few years after his employment, he became the president of the local branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), a radical union known for its upfront style on academic and social welfare. He rose to the position of president of the national organization in 1986, but in 1988, the union was briefly banned and Iyayi was detained, in that same year he won the Commonwealth Prize for Literature for his book Heroes."

32. Sonny Okosun (famous Nigerian musician, 70s and 80s, known especially for his hit "Fire in Soweto"

33. Brahima Ahmed Omosun (former Chief Justice of the Gambia)

34. Robert Okojie (NASA researcher; won the Abe Silverstein Medal for his research; "Dr. Robert S. Okojie has numerous engineering contributions to high temperature aerospace technologies, in particular, electronic devices based on silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors. His contributions to the design, fabrication, and packaging of high temperature electronics are of high importance and impact on a national scale.

He has been a national leader in the development of microelectromechanical (MEMS)-based silicon carbide pressure sensors for use near turbine engines and other high temperature, highly corrosive environments. Electronics to monitor pressure and temperature at propulsion systems has been a major goal of aerospace technology."

"His latest achievements have also included patented techniques for decoupling thermomechanical stress between silicon carbide sensors and their packaging as well as eliminating wire bonding altogether – advances that avoid the otherwise catastrophic failure of these devices during operation.

These techniques are now being licensed for use by a leading manufacturer of microsensors. He has extended his silicon carbide expertise to batch fabrication of silicon carbide laminates for advanced fuel injectors that satisfy international civil aviation standards. His advance enables the use of this high performance semiconductor in the active control of engine combustion. He has even developed the first accelerated stress test protocol published in the IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium, the venue by which reliability testing is accepted by world industry.

These are the latest in an impressive list of Dr. Okojie’s achievements. Among his past successes, he demonstrated the world’s first thermally stable ohmic contact metallization on silicon carbide at record breaking temperatures for extended periods of time. In turn, this paved the way for high temperature sensors and electronics at these temperatures that can substantially improve safety and efficiency, as well as directly impacting the air quality around airports. His many patented device contributions extend to numerous MEMS structures that can reduce air and noise pollution, provide new deep well drilling tools, and supply sensors for the temperature and chemical extremes of aerospace environments."

http://rt.grc.nasa.gov/main/featured-innovators/dr-robert-s-okojie/ )

35. Franca Afegbua (first female senator in Nigeria)