Ikoka: A Benin community under 300-year-old curse

Most of its original inhabitants have fled to Benin and other towns and cities for fear of incurring the potency of a curse placed on the people of the community by Oba Ewakpe over five centuries ago.Crumbling red mud houses screened by lush green thickets seemed deserted. Patches of grasses have grown round the ranshackle […]

Most of its original inhabitants have fled to Benin and other towns and cities for fear of incurring the potency of a curse placed on the people of the community by Oba Ewakpe over five centuries ago.
Crumbling red mud houses screened by lush green thickets seemed deserted. Patches of grasses have grown round the ranshackle small compounds and goats and chicken huddle at the weak mud walls of the shabby houses taking shade under the rusty roofs from the drizzling rain.
In another small compound in the village though, a group of persons were seen chatting. They looked up in bewilderment as our reporter and his guide got down from the motorbike that took them to the out-of -the-way village. A plump old man, bare-chested and bare-footed, rose to give the strangers a warm welcome.
Pullen Ahuwan, 68, was happy that somebody would come all the way from Abuja to hear and tell the story of his village. He was also happy to tell the story of the village as well as correct the impression that all the villagers believe in the curse by Oba Ewakpe.
Ahuwan, who claimed to be the only elder living in the village, said he grew up in the village but sojourned somewhere most of his adult life, returning to Ikoka just about 10 years ago. He, however, said that he knew the history of the village as much as any other original inhabitant who has lived there all his life.
“When I was growing up, the story of Oba Ewakpe cursing his mother’s kinsmen was well known. The Oba was said to have a fiery temper. His mother, who was from Ikoka had earlier warned him against losing his temper, especially against the people of Ikoka. But as fate would have it, when the mother died, the village sent a delegation to the Oba to tell him of his mother’s death but he was angry with the emissaries for wearing white clothes. He thought the messengers were celebrating his mother’s death and in anger, he killed all the messengers except one, who was allowed to go back and tell Ikoka  community that he was angry with them.
“The community too was angry with the Oba but there was nothing they could do. But it wasn’t long before the Oba had problems running the Benin kingdom. He had to run to his mother’s kinsmen to seek refuge. On his arrival here, the elders of Ikoka remembered what he did to their people and they asked him to sweep the road leading to the village and drink pond water before they would forgive him and obey. He felt humiliated and left in annoyance. Before he left though, his hot temper again got the better of him and in the full wrath of his anger, he cursed the people of Ikoka, saying only women would prosper in the community, while their male counterparts would wallow in poverty.”
Ahuwan took pains to explain that he did not believe the village was backward because of the curse placed on it by Oba Owape. He argued that some other communities too did not have any form of development but were not cursed by any Oba.
The road to Ikoka from Ikpoba junction, just a kilometre from Udo, one of the main towns in Ovia South-West local government of Edo state, is muddy and slippery, especially on a rainy day. The rough road winds on the edge of the vast rubber plantation and by the time you get to the village on a rainy day, be sure of becoming muddy yourself. Ahuwan believes the road is the real curse of the village and not the one placed by Oba over a century ago. He argued that the curse couldn’t have been efficacious uptill the present generation.
“For example John Omorugbe is from here but he has houses in Benin and his children are educated and some of them are even abroad,” he explained.
Asked if on a personal level he was satisfied with his achievements as a man or he feels that his prosperity is hampered by Oba Ewakpe’s curse, he said he was satisfied “because one man cannot have everything.” But like Oliver Twist, he is asking for more. “Michelin has given us water but there is no road to this village and there is no hospital and no school. It is unfortunate that local authorities don’t even know that Ikoka truly exists,” he added.
He lamented that the road from Ikpoba junction to the village is just about 11kilometres but because it is so bad, bikes plying the road charge as much as N800 to N1,000 per person, saying it is not every bike rider that agrees to go there and some think of the village as an isolated community.
Ahuwan’s concern is that children of scchool age always have to trek the same distance to attend school at Udo, as the old school built a long time ago by the Catholic Church has collapsed. The foundation stones of the school could not be traced as the rubble has been covered by thick green vegetation.
He accused the management of the Osse River  Rubber Estate of not doing enough for the community, saying the borehole it sank for the village does not reflect its corporate said responsibility to match the seamless hospitality the community offers it. He added that constructing the dirt road to the estate and the village should not be beyond the management of the estate.
“Some people believe that we are cursed but the truth is government just abandoned us here. I don’t believe in that curse. We plead with government to construct the road for us, build our children a school and a hospital to give us a sense of belonging because right now we feel estranged from the rest of Edo state,” he said.
Florence Omoruyi, another original inhabitant of the queer, deserted village, believes in her determination and hardwork to prosper in life.
“I don’t believe in that curse so it cannot affect me. Whoever believes this village is cursed, the curse is on his or her head. For me, all my children are educated and I have two houses in Benin. There is no food for lazy man. If you don’t work hard then there is no prosperity for you,” she said.
The woman who was getting ready to go to the farm to harvest cassava said the problem of the village at present is lack of basic amenities. “If we have a school here, our road is good and we have a hospital, nobody would be talking about Ikoka as a cursed village,” she lamented.
Another villager who spoke with our reporter declared that the problem of the village is the rubber estate. According to Emmanuel Friday, who is from Akwa Ibom but has come to sojourn in Ikoka, the real curse on the village is the rubber plantation, which has occupied a vast stretch of land but has little or no impact on the village.
He said the rubber company should have opened up the village as part of its corporate social responsibility, having collected expansive land from the village and made so much money from it.
“I so much doubt if the curse would have been effective up till today. What I believe is that this village has been abandoned both by government and the rubber company operating here. If the village is given a few amenities, the village will open up,” he said.
He said the original inhabitants of the village are very amiable people and he has enjoyed his time at the village. According to him, the poverty in the village is just like any in other village in Nigeria where government has not paid attention.
A low roof shrine painted in pink stood in the centre of the village. It appears to be the only building still in good condition and could at least boast of a coat of paint in the village of less than 20 compounds. Carvings of Benin gods stand proudly on a raised platform at the centre of the shrine while bones of animals litter the floor.
Ahuwan explained that most of the villagers are traditionalists and the shrine is the only place of worship in the village. “It is our sacred place of worship where we commune with our ancestors,” he added.
Our reporter gathered that the community is agrarian and has fertile land yams, cassava, plantain, palm and timber plantation. Most of the villagers believe that they would be rich if there is access road to take their produce to the market.
Prince Idova ascended the throne and was crowned Oba Ewuakpe in about 1700 A.D. becoming the 26th monarch of the Benin Kingdom.  He reigned for about 12 years and his alleged high-handedness and disregard for his subjects made his reign one of the most turbulent in Benin history. He is sadly remembered for the mass killing of his subjects at Uselu during the funeral of his late mother, Queen Ewebonoza in about 1715 A.D. When it became apparent that the elders and the citizens of the kingdom could no longer accommodate the excesses of the king they were compelled to revolt against him. This uprising also affected all his wives (Iloi) the royal slaves (ovien) and other palace attendants.     
The Oba was isolated and was drowning in this great calamity. When it became apparent that there was no solution to his predicament, the king decided to seek refuge among his mother’s relations at Ikoka village, where  he was also rejected.