An impressive crowd witnessed the Oba of Benin, Ewuare 11 as he commemorated the Isoton rite on his Queen mother, Iyoba Omo N’ikuoyemwen, Iyoba Ewuare II, who died 49 years ago.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Oba of Benin, Mr Osaigbovo Iguobaro, said on Wednesday that Isoton, a traditional rite, is a procession in memory of the departed soul’s spirit.
It is also heralded by a public display of the departed person’s affluence during their sojourn on earth.
According to Iguobaro, the display of Akọ, a human effigy, symbolising the departed royal matriarch, preceded Oba Ewuare 11, who led the procession, from his palace to the sacred Emotan deity at the King’s Square in Benin, where he offered prayers for the repose of the soul of the Queen mother.
“Thereafter, a priest, assigned to the Emotan deity, offered Oba Ewuare 11 items for Isoton, on behalf of his family to Emotan, through the Emotan priest, who in turn, gives him two chunks of white native chalk, (Osorhue), amid cheers by royal fans.
“This is after the ancestral spirits have been invoked to bear witnesses on the Oba’s arrival,” he said.
He said Oba Ewuare later paid tributes at various pilgrimage sites, including the Queen’s tomb, beside Oba Market, where a cheerful crowd of traders abandoned their wares to catch a glimpse of the royal personage.
Personalities from different spheres attended the colourful ceremony, including the Speaker of the Edo House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku; a former Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, and a former governor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Isa Yuguda.
Various palace groups, including royal drummers, in their philharmonic orchestra, supplied the needed impetus for the special historical event. (NAN)