Benin History & Research Centre in Diaspora

Isiokuo festival is a re-enactment of ancient Benin warfare, to commemorate the god of war. Procession of warriors headed by Shield bearers move through the streets to fight a mock battle. Relics of war implements of Ake Nisi, a great archer, his bows and arrows were kept and members from Ilobi people who specialized in the archer use the bows and arrows invented by Ake nisi are some relics used during the Isiokuo festival.  The festival ends up with the “Amufi” (acrobatic games) performing the special tree top acrobats as a mark of the spiritual and mystical powers involved in the destruction of the man eating monster-osogan. Isiokuo festival is no longer celebrated in Great Benin but at the countryside. Although Isiokuo festival might have been celebrated in some areas of the ancient Benin Kingdom, Evboesi people of Iyekeorhionmwon Local Government Council area of Edo State do this in specific manner to re-enact how Ekpen Elegbe a general warlord and hero defended the territory a...

Lady Nekpen Obasogie has hosted the first session of her book launch in Toronto on November 4th, 2023. The book titled Benin Warriors and the British Colonial Rule in Niger ia depicts the oral and written historical accounts of the military might of Benin and its warriors (warrior kings) in the pre-colonial era.  It sheds light on how the British colonial violence in that part of Africa, now known as Nigeria, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries disrupted the military and geographical arrangements of the old Benin Empire. Specifically, the book bridges the long-existing gaps in African/Benin literature on the significance and role of spirituality in the process of nation-building and warfare in the ancient Benin Kingdom. The grand session of the book launch has been scheduled for January 2024 worldwide. Everyone is invited to join the program online via Zoom.