The last funeral rites for a king

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 I hail the enthronement of the new OBA of Benin. He looks properly kitted, jazzed up and assisted by his abubaku's and servants. I trust the Bini kingmakers to have baptized him with a mixture of condiments and performed the necessary and traditional rituals before he assumed the throne. Our majesty we hail thee


By Terhemba Osuji | April 19, 2016


The Bini empire has a very long and checkered history and its past warrior Oba's conquered lands stretching beyond the river Niger and as far as present day Ghana, the empire also at one time dominated Yoruba land and conquered present day Lagos island and even Obalende in modern day Lagos state.


The late Oba comes from a long lines of Oba's stretching back to the 1440's. To say they Oba's and their subjects have maintained their traditions is an understatement and to this day you cannot walk around Benin without stumbling upon ritualistic sacrifices and incense or candles burning for their Gods and Ancestors. 


The OBA must be assisted to the afterlife by a retinue of servants, but we are in the 21st century and because of the outrageous and ignoble cowardice of the abubaaku in neighboring yorubaland, the OBA risks going on his journey alone or without a sufficient number of servant warriors, but there must be a way around that complication.


By a new decree secretly enacted by the fraternal order of kingmakers, all Kings do not need be buried with their slaves in the same tomb immediately, the bodies and heads of their servants will be buried somewhere else and their ashes will be sprinkled in his grave or the will be telepathically guided to begin guard duty at his grave through some complicated rituals to keep with tradition. The bodies will be buried in his tomb many months later when nobody is watching.


You my friends are warned, the hunt is on and his burial date will be announced after a sufficient number of heads have been gathered. 


You are best advised to conduct your business in the Bini Empire quickly and quietly and head back home before nightfall for the next couple of weeks. If you choose to be a creature of the night when the head hunters roll out from their shrines you will be violently conscripted for patriotic service by beheadment.


Long live the Bini Empire and may the council be guided during its own version of a conclave as it chooses the next OBA who must uphold traditions and ensure that the last funeral rites of his predecessor are fulfilled.


By Terhemba Osuji

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