The Abia Government says it will collaborate with the Federal Government to upgrade the National War Museum and Ojukwu Bunker, both in Umuahia, into world-class tourism destinations.

The Commissioner for Information, Mr Okey Kanu, disclosed this at the Government House, Umuahi, while briefing newsmen on the outcome of Monday’s State Executive Council meeting.

Kanu said that the initiative, spearheaded by the State Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy, aims to preserve the state’s rich historical heritage, while boosting tourism.

He expressed the State Government’s commitment to making Abia a key destination for historical and cultural tourism.

“By revamping these sites, we will not only preserve history but also create economic opportunities through tourism,” he said.

According to him, the government has made broader efforts to identify and develop tourism sites across the state.

Kanu also said that recently, the ministry discovered over 55 unique heritage sites across the state.

He listed the sites to include Ulochukwu Cave in Alayi in Bende, the Mazi Okoro Orji’s Compound in Arochukwu, and Ntubugwo Oloko in Ikwuano, where participants in the Aba Women’s Riot of 1929 were tried, among others.

The commissioner also affirmed the government’s commitment to building a five-star hotel in Umuahia to support the growing tourism sector.

“These projects are part of a comprehensive strategy to make Abia a leading tourism hub, attract visitors, and boost the state’s economy,” Kanu said.

Also, the Commissioner for Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy, Mr Matthew Ekwuribe, said that Abia has numerous historical and natural attractions.

“Abia is blessed with waterfalls in at least three LGAs, caves in places like Alayi, Isuikwuato, and Umunneochi, as well as the Azumini Blue River, a unique natural attraction.

“We also have Akwaete Beach, which remains an untapped coastal treasure,” Ekwuribe said.

He also said that if the sites got properly developed, they could position the state as a top tourism destination in Nigeria and beyond.

The commissioner also spoke about the uniqueness of the National War Museum, the only one of its kind in West Africa, and the Ojukwu Bunker, which played a significant role during the Nigerian Civil War.

He said, “These historical sites, if properly rehabilitated, would attract visitors from across the country and beyond.

He reiterated the administration’s commitment to prioritising the restoration of the National War Museum and Ojukwu Bunker, while also gradually retrofitting other cultural and tourism sites across the state.

“It is a gradual process, but we are determined to bring Abia’s tourism sector back to life and with the right investments, policy, and private-sector participation, Abia can become a major tourism hub,” Ekwuribe said.

The Vice President, Kashim Shettima will on Tuesday declare open the Expanded National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Business Clinics in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The Vice President will embark on a one-day visit to Ogun State on Tuesday. The event will be held at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta.
The Expanded National MSMEs Business Clinic is an initiative of the Federal Government executed in collaboration with state governments. It is geared towards providing lasting solutions to the challenges hindering the development of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), help MSMEs have access to capital, formalize their businesses, and also exhibit their products among others.
The Clinic would allow small business owners to meet regulatory bodies like the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), and others as well as feature grant presentations to qualified MSMEs.
The Vice President would also inaugurate the Fashion Hub project at the Old OGTV auditorium where over 150 state-of-the-art tailoring equipment have been provided for stakeholders in the fashion industry as well as the Adire shared facility at Asero, Abeokuta.
Participants are expected to register preferably before the day of the event using the programme’s barcode or register via https://forms.gle/BAhogfGarYa5tLWA9.

By Adewale Adeoye

The distortion of history has led to wars between peoples and nations. It is exactly what we see between Israel and Palestine today and the main reason for the invasion of the Russian speaking areas of Ukraine by Russia. Attempts to rewrite history partly was responsible for two bitter world wars. It is responsible for the conflict in the Middle Belt and many parts of Nigeria today.
A redefinition and distortion of a people’s history has perilous impact on land, resources and spirituality. No leadership or a people should allow it to stand.
History sometimes be a pile of lies repeated over and over again but agreed by majority of the people.
Truth is constant but truth can sometimes be subjective depending on which side of the coin we find ourselves. But facts are constant even in the face of curious manipulations by man. Facts of history are like a cork, it bounces back as many times as it is submerged in water.
The debate on Lagos history will not recede so easily. Let us face it, the Oba of Benin, Ewuare 11 remains one of the most respected traditional rulers in Africa. His status in history remains like a rock. I admit.
However, his November 26 visit to Lagos was a conscious attempt to rewrite a 600-year old history in his own image. The Oba while being hosted by the Governor of Lagos Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who at this time represents the cultural symbol of Lagos, said his host should check the history books that Lagos (or part of it) was founded by Benin. He did not mention the history book to be checked, because there was none.
We cannot say that the Oba of Benin lied, but we can take the liberty to say his account is not complete. We can at least seek the democratic space to let the highly respected Oba know that there are alternative positions, far older than his own recent thesis, based on indisputable facts of history.
The theory espoused by the Oba is a recent attempt to mythologize Lagos along the pathway of logic conceived by the new Benin Royal. In the last 600 years, there is no history book that has ever made reference to Lagos as the territory of Benin, nor the city’s royal stool in the context the Oba wanted us to believe. There are 52 traditional kingdoms in Lagos all of which have their own history. Out of this 52, only the Oba of downtown Lagos (Eko, one of the smallest territories) has any relationship with Benin, and in reality, the network still goes back to Ile-Ife.
The current stool of the Oba of Bini, Ewuare II was created and nurtured between 1100 and 1300 by Oranmiyan, the descendant of Oduduwa, the first known King of Yoruba who had ruled at Ile-Ife around the 9th Century, some 300 years before his grandson established the Bini Kingdom.
The myth of Benin ownership of Lagos was first created during the visit of Oba Erediauwa of Benin when he visited Lagos in the pattern that followed the November visit of Oba Ewuare.
In that year, Oba Erediuwa said Benin founded Lagos. The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu responded by saying the Oba “made sense to him”. In the midst of criticisms from Lagos stakeholders, the Lagos Oba reversed his earlier claim. “I never said Bini owned Lagos, but the influence of the Oba of Benin, nobody can wash it away in Lagos”, Oba Akiolu said during the December 2017 launch of “Defend the Defenseless”, a book written by Arese Carrington, wife of a former US ambassador, Walter Carrington. The visit of the Oba Erediauwa marked the beginning a new theory on Ekaladehan which some Bini people described in this century and for the first time as their own version of Oduduwa.
This a very incoherent and distorted account of who Oduduwa was. Yoruba has a well-documented history dating back to the BC sustained and recorded over the years through written accounts by scholars and researchers all over the world and by Yoruba themselves in oral and written epistemology. The accounts are also recorded physically and spiritually in various Yoruba cosmology.One of the most reliable and copious documentation of Yoruba history is found in Ifa which has 256 odus (books). Each Odu has 800 stories.
The first chapter is Ejiogbe which has 800 stories, far bigger than any book of literature in the world.
There are infact 204,800 theories/Odu in all which is enough to fill a story building if produced as books.
The custodians of Yoruba epistemology know these verses and have kept them for centuries reflecting history, culture, jurispudence and spirituality of Yoruba people.
In his Travels in Yorubaland, Clapperton affirmed the level of advancement in Yorubaland which he witnessed in 1800s. He identified flourishing industries including Smelting, manufacturing, weaving and spinning, dyeing, extracting oils, leather work, carving, pottery, etc.
He wrote ‘The manufacturing of cloth I imagine to be as the nation itself. The cotton is first rubbed off the seed by a small iron roller on an oblong block; then beaten into a kind of lint and finally spun on a distaff for a spindle about nine inches in length, with a bulb about three or four inches from the larger end. This thread is sold in the markets, then dyed and warped on sticks placed in the ground for bars and finally put into the harness. The looms are of two varieties with all fixtures of an ordinary loom harness, sleight, treadle, shuttle, etc.’
The fact is that it is the deconstruction of Yoruba history led by Oba Erediuwa that his royal son, Oba Ewuare came to Lagos to strengthen.
Demystifying the Oba’s position is a very simple task. Until the proclamation of Oba Erediuwa, no history book has ever recorded Ekaladerhan as the farther of Oranmiyan.
One of the most authoritative Benin historians, Jacob V Egharevba was assertive about the Ife origin of Oranmiyan. These accounts are well established in Egharevba’s, ‘A short History of Benin’.
He actually proclaimed the first King in the pre-Oba era, Ogiso as having migrated from Ile-Ife. The descendants of Ogiso family who are still alive have spoken proficiently on their own history in the past and even now to counter the emerging Beninisation of Yoruba history.
There are many hard facts. It is important to note that Oduduwa was buried at Ile-Ife, his burial ground remains at Ile-Ife until this day, so also is the burial ground of Oranmiyan. In Yoruba and Benin time-honored traditions, Ori Ade Kii Sun Oko – A prince or a King must never be buried outside his ancestral home. If Oduduwa and Oranmiyan were to come from Benin, why were they not buried in Benin?
They could not have been buried elsewhere except a place to which they were spiritually attached and entitled to. Again, on the issue of Lagos, every account known to history asserts that the first people in Lagos were the Awori.
They left Ile-Ife around 1011 with an Ife prince, Ogunfunminire at the head of the team. This was long before the Benin dynasty was established. On their movement from Lagos, the Ifa had told them to settle anywhere the ‘Awo’ (calabash) in their stead, sank. It did at Isheri now in Lagos State prompting the team to settle on the vast land to be found in Lagos and Ogun State today.
The offspring of Ogunfunmire were involved in a rumble for the Oba’s stool. Ashipa, A Yoruba Awori, whose son, Ado became the Oba of Lagos was supported by the Benin royalty whose agents at that time were on frequent visits to Lagos. We should take not a significance event at this time. The title of Ashipa was indeed Oloriogun, Captain of the battalion which was purely a Yoruba title.
The Oba of Benin also deployed soldiers to fortify the Ashipa Army while the Itsekiri were said to have provided the naval fighter force in support of Ashipa.The Benin officers were led by Eletu Odibo who was a member of the Akarigbere class of Lagos White Cap Chiefs. Ashipa was believed to have lived between 1570 and 1630. He belonged to the Olofin ruling house, Ado his son lived and ruled Lagos between 1630 to 1669, Gabaro (1669-1704), Eletu Kekere(1704) who died in the year he was crowned, Akinsemoyin (1704-1749), Ologun Kutere(1773-1749), Adele Ajosun(1775-1780), Osinlokun (1780-1819).
At this time Lagos was punctured by political and administrative turmoil. For instance Oba Ajosun was dethroned and died in 1837, so also was Akintoye who was dethroned but later came back to rule Lagos. A significant aspect often ignored was that there was no Oba of Lagos until 1630. That was 500 years after Oranmiyan had founded Benin and left the territory to establish Oyo Empire. This meant that for 500 years, Lagos had no royal network with Benin whereas the Awori had lived, thrived and prospered on their land.
The other critical point to note is that the Benin soldiers that came to support Ashipa were accepted in Lagos obviously because they were descendants of Oranmiyan, and secondly because both Ogunfunmire, Ashipa and the first Oba of Benin came from Ile-Ife.
It is also a known fact of history that ancient Oba of Benin were buried in the sanctuary of their forefathers in Ile-Ife. That tradition only changed not too long ago.
Recently, when the Ooni of Ife was hosting the Oba of Benin at the Ife Palace, he had told his guest that he was prepared to take him to where his ancestors were buried.
What are the reasons for the current misinterpretation of Lagos history?. First I blame the political class and the mainstream Yoruba cultural fronts like the Afenifere leadership that emerged after Chief Obafemi Awolowo for their introvert political culture. For too long, unlike in the days of Awo, the ethnic and cultural groups outside Yorubaland, affiliated to Yoruba heritage have been ignored in all spheres, the ancient nexus severed, thereby widening the gap between generations of Edo and Yoruba people.