as not invited into partnership; it was subjugated after the punitive expedition of 1897.
Our bronzes were carried away. Our throne was attacked. Our political independence was extinguished — not by consent, but by force.
Is it not a grave irony that a kingdom whose diplomatic envoys stood in European courts in the fifteenth century should now be treated as an afterthought in a federation it did not negotiate?
Today, the structure of Nigeria continues to reflect that imbalance. The concentration of power at the center, the fiscal dependency of federating units, the distortion of true federalism, these are not accidents.
They are inheritances of a colonial design. A people cannot fully flourish under a structure that was never built for their dignity.
Furthermore, when national traditional institutions are arranged in a manner that elevates certain thrones above others, when titles and ceremonial hierarchies disregard the antiquity and prestige of Benin Kingdom...
it strikes not merely at protocol, but at history itself. The Benin throne is not a junior appendage of any modern contrivance.
It is one of Africa’s oldest surviving monarchies. Its legitimacy predates colonial Nigeria by centuries.
We must ask ourselves, Edo youths: Are we content to be perpetual spectators in a house not of our making? Or shall we, with disciplined courage and intellectual clarity, examine our future?
This is not a call to chaos. It is not a trumpet for violence. It is a summons to thought, to research, to constitutional inquiry, and to organized civic action. Nations are not sustained by sentiment alone; they are sustained by structure, justice, and mutual respect.
Where those fail, serious men and women must consider alternatives.
Before 1897, Benin Kingdom governed herself under a centralized, culturally rooted monarchy with defined systems of administration, guilds, diplomacy, and law. Our governance was indigenous.
Our identity was coherent. Our loyalty was undivided.
The youth of Edo State must therefore study history, not as a tale of nostalgia, but as a blueprint for possibility. Self-determination is not rebellion when it is pursued lawfully and peacefully.
It is the natural aspiration of a people who know their worth.
If Nigeria is to endure, it must do so on the basis of genuine federal equity and respect among its constituent nationalities.
If that equity proves unattainable, then the conversation about constitutional restructuring, even to the point of sovereign autonomy, becomes neither treasonous nor irrational, but inevitable.
Young men and women of Benin, lift your eyes beyond the noise of the moment.
Think in centuries, as your ancestors did. Build institutions. Educate yourselves in law, economics, and diplomacy. Organize not in anger, but in disciplined purpose.
A great kingdom does not beg for recognition. It demonstrates capacity.
The future of Benin will not be handed to us.
It will be reasoned, built, and earned, by minds that refuse inferiority and by hearts that remember who they are.
Stand upright. Study deeply. Act wisely. And let history record that when the hour came, the youth of Benin did not shrink from the responsibility of destiny.
Signed
Prince Joseph Ogiehor
Self Appointed Envoy to Benin Kingdom in Diaspora
Contact: +44 7530 285120