Ovonramwen’s Exile & The Danger Of Blind Loyalty

History Repeating? Lessons Benin Must Not Ignore

THE fall of Oba Ovọnramwẹn was not inevitable. It was produced by a fatal convergence of imperial ambition, internal betrayal, and cultural rigidity. More than a century later, the conditions that enabled that downfall deserve renewed scrutiny.

One enduring myth is that unquestioning loyalty strengthens monarchy. History suggests the opposite. Ovọnramwẹn was surrounded by advisers who failed him—not through disloyalty, but through fear, flattery, and self-interest. Truth became dangerous, and silence became policy.

Equally damaging was the culture of absolutism among subjects. When a people treat dissent as treason and criticism as sacrilege, they weaken the very institution they claim to defend. Colonial records show that British officials feared Benin unity—but exploited Benin intolerance for dissent.

Modern parallels are uncomfortable. Today, hostility toward criticism, ritualised curses against fellow citizens, and blind deification of authority recreate the psychological environment that once made Benin vulnerable to manipulation.

The lesson is stark: tradition survives not by resisting accountability, but by embracing adaptation. Cultural institutions endure when they engage with their political moment, not retreat from it.

Ovọnramwẹn’s exile is not just a historical wound; it is a warning. Memory, if properly used, becomes protection. Forgotten, it becomes prophecy.

Benin’s strength has always been its capacity to endure. That endurance depends not on repeating old patterns, but on learning from them.