THE DESTRUCTION OF GWATO, THE BENIN PORT

Although it housed the first factory ever built on this side of the West African coastline, Ughoton (Gwato) wasn’t a big or busy port. As early as 1516, Oba Esigie closed down the factory, which was built by the Potoki as part of his ban on the European trade in humans. 

Ughoton nonetheless was a critical port for Benin kingdom in its inter-nations trade in palm oil in particular, including palm kernels, pepper and non perishables like cloth.

For this reason, Ughoton was one of the key places the British were keen to destroy in their 1897 invasion of the kingdom of Benin.                                             

According to oral history, Ughoton was founded by Prince Ekaladerhan, the only child of Ogiso Owodo, the last Ogiso of the Ogiso dynasty of the Benin Kingdom (Oronsaye, 1995).

From its rudimentary stage, Ughoton witnessed rapid social, political and economic transformation from early on due to its vantage position as a market, facilitated by its strategic location on the Benin River and the spiritual significance of being linked to the sea, which is the main domain of the Edo god’s Olokun as overall deity of large body waters, seas and the oceans. 

From the fifteenth century on, this commercial aspect expanded greatly on arrival of the Potoki as the same strategic location on the Benin River increased Ughoton significance as Benin Port and for almost four centuries, meaning before and after the coming of the Europeans, Ughoton would serve as a hub of economic activities.

.

Ughoton and the 1897 British Invasion of Benin:       

In 1896, the British Acting Consul-General Philips who assumed duty on the October 15th as ‘Head of Niger Coast Protectorate’ (National Archives, Ibadan, 1896) embarked on an ill-fated journey to Benin ostensibly on a peaceful mission to see the Oba. The events that followed the ill-fated mission led to the British Invasion of Benin and the collapse of the kingdom, including that of the economic hub of the kingdom, Ughoton.

In that 1897 ‘burning of Benin’ as many of the invading offers termed it, Ughoton in fact suffered tremendous destruction at the hands of the invading British. The devastating effects of that war on Ughoton cannot be over-emphasized. The Benin soldiers led by Ebeikhinmwin stationed at Ughoton displayed their bravery, strength and courage. At the end, the Benin soldiers, which included Ughoton able-bodied men, were defeated by the more determined British forces led by Captain M. P. O. Callaghan who paraded superior weapons.

It has been argued that superiority in the quality and quantity of arms compelled the Benin soldiers to withdraw thereby giving the British troops the opportunity to complete the demolition of the houses at Ughoton (Igbafe, 1979). (Refer to our earlier post on this page on the weapons of mass destruction of the day the the British army used on Benin). 

In that same battle, the Ohen-Okun, the chief priest of Olokun temple as well as the political head of the village, was killed and the celebrated Olokun temple completely burnt down. The significance of such attack on Olokun temple greatly dwindled the courage of the Benin fighters. Additionally, there was psychological effect on the people of Ughoton itself, especially regarding the long held believe in the supreme powers of Olokun, the god. Olokun is a native and foremost deity of the sea and the oceans not only sacred but highly rated by both the people and the reigning Obas of Benin over millennia.    

At any rate, along with Benin City itself and the king‘s palace, Ughoton was especially targeted in the war of 1897 aka British invasion of Benin being the immediate factor that brought about the collapse of Ughoton once described as the port of Benin Kingdom. Typically, with most of European destruction of African towns and cities, no dedicated score remains from the natives of what they lost. But the fact remains that as an ancient port housing goods for the kingdom and as the opening to Olokun the venerable deity, much was lost, whether of lives or goods or temple statues, to bombing, burning and general gleeful destruction by the British. The British would then print all kinds of unsavoury untruths and outright lies about ‘juju house of Gwato’ as a way to justify their wanton destruction of the statues at Ughoton. 

.

Political Institutions of Ughoton after 1897: 

Among the institutions which the British invasion of the Ughoton affected adversely were the political institutions. As the Ohen-Okun of Ughoton who was both the Chief Priest of Olokun temple and the political head of Ughoton was killed in that encounter, which also witnessed the burning of the temple and its desecration, a tearing apart of the religious from the political ensued. The vacuum created with the killing of the Ohen-Okun in 1897 was consequently double-headed. The palace immediately recognized that a separate political institution must henceforth exist alongside the religious, and Ughoton survived this problem when Oba Eweka II came to power on July 22, 1914. He instructed that a new temple be erected, which led to the appointment of a new Ohen-Okun. Under the instruction of the Oba, the Ohen-Okun was now confined to  religious matters while the Odionwere, the oldest man in the village became the political head of the community.

Ughoton emerged from the rubbles of that invasion, as the political, social and economic institutions survived after the invasion of 1897 by the British. In the same breath however, colonial rule was fast plowing its claws into the lands and resources of Benin Kingdom.                                                                                                       

.

Colonial Resource Depletion and Greedy Misuse of Ughoton:                                                                              

Soon after the expedition, the British immediately intensified exploits of the rubber forests in Benin. Writing to the Consul-General Ralph Moor on 30 April 1897 Alfred Turner who was posted as the first political resident in Benin revealed that he had been encouraging the rubber trade to the utmost, “even giving practical lessons in court having as yet not had the chance of going into the bush” (N. A. I, cal. Prof. 6/1).    

          

The British saw Ughoton as a pot of honey to milk and soon after began to bring men from the hinterlands, in particular the south-eastern part of what would become todays’s Nigeria to work on rubber tapping plantations. These groups of ‘Igbos’ and ‘Ijaws’ were used in attempt to displaced the native, local Benin population of Ughoton, though many surrounding Benin men and youths including those of Ughoton were just as eager to engage in rubber tapping for their livelihood.

Much rubber and timber was extracted out of Ughoton by colonial rule and often using extremely cheap labour of the imported migrants tribes. During the Annual Report on Southern Nigeria (1899-1900), for example, Moor reported that "the increase in rubber is very satisfactory and I anticipate considerable increase in the future, as much trouble has been taken to open up rubber produce." (Annual Reports, 1900-1938).

Ughoton was not left out in the production of palm oil (and palm kernels), trades which the British had wanted to seize control over in the first place and which was the main reason of their so-called ‘punitive war on Benin’. While Benin never signed off her lands (we must recall that Oba Ovoranmwen intentionally refused to even touched the treaty paper brought to him, declining the request and saying instead that the translator should tell the British that all he, Oba of Benin, wanted was peace), the British nonetheless began to (illegally) seek applications for “grant of land” for the purpose of creating a massive plantations of Ughoton and many other lands across Benin Kingdom. 

Meanwhile, many Benin too were seeking to have their lands back after the invasion, particularly the entire areas of Ughoton that was second only to Benin City in destruction by the British forces of 1897. In April 1932. D.H. Urquhart, the colonial superintendent of agriculture in Benin, wrote that, a good number of people in Benin appeared to be keen on palm-planting and there is no cause for alarm that the land for annual crops is being encroached upon unduly (N.A.I, 1929). Out of the thirty-one applicants in Benin Province with requests for guidance in planting of palms, twenty-five came from the Ekenwuan district alone which Ughoton belonged to during this period (Igbafe, 1979, 360).

Ughoton farmers similarly tried to get back their farming lands after the bitter  experience of the 1897 British invasion.

.

Independence of ‘Nigeria’ and DISCOVERY OF OIL at Ughoton:

To add to the wrongful theft of land by the so-called colonial rule that took place immediately after the war of 1897, crude oil was discovered in Ughoton, which accelerated interest by all kinds of groups in that areas, including that of the new rule called the federal republic of Nigeria. Within mere years after ‘independence ‘ of this new state created out of colonialism, a ‘constitution’ was hastily written in 1966 after a coup to ’federalize’ ‘all land and resources’. The 1966 constitution was created out of a coup and is in effect one of greed and oppression. Yet this essentially illegal construction of a constitution created by a coup would only be strengthened in 1999 by the hegemony of mainly northern political elites.

To date, government agencies, like Niger Delta Development Commission continue to act under the premise of that illegal constitution. Whereas native rights and ownership of Ughoton and its resources are wholly Benin, or Edo State.

Image sketch 1897 showing the Benin River / Ughoton route taken by the British Army in their advance on Benin.

text with image: 

“THE ADVANCE ON BENIN: MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE OF THE EXPEDITION, 1897: The main portion of the punitive expedition against the King of Benin under Admiral Rawson went up the river Benin to Warigi. The same day the force marched to Siri, and on the following day attacked and occupied Ologbo. A second force under Captain O'Callaghan of the Philomel went up the Gwato Creek, and occupied Gilli Gilli and Gwato. While a third force went up the Jameson River and occupied Sapoba.”

“Gilli Gilli” = GeleGele
“Gwato“ = Ughoton

As an ancient port housing goods for the kingdom and as the opening to Olokun the venerable deity, much was lost, whether of lives or goods or temple statues, to bombing, burning and general gleeful destruction by the British. The British would then print all kinds of unsavoury untruths and outright lies about ‘juju house of Gwato’ as a way to justify their wanton destruction of the statues at Ughoton. 

This image here is a sketch from 1897 with the caption “The place where Cannibal Rites and Human Sacrifices are performed. THE JU-JU HOUSE AT GWATO, NEAR BENIN CITY, 1897”

Yet, despite the photographs taken during that war, not one image of the actual evidence. In this image for example, what the illustrator could show before the destruction are actually religious statues. High chance of course that they have for centuries being doused in sacrificial blood of chickens and goats. Was human blood as well? 🤔