Chief Theophilus O.S. Benson is an Avatar. He deserves total reverence, now that he is with his Maker. We should let him be.
What Dr Abati needs is some cultural education on Land matters as well as marriage institution in the East. A lot may have changed after the civil war.
On the other area, in many climes, Chief Benson and his younger brother, Robert (Bobby) Benson were Kalabari men. They were Ijaws. So, if Dr Abati meant to claim the first Federal Minister of Information and his brother wholly as Yorubas, the Ijaws also claimed them as their own too. They were born in Abonnema in the 1900s by parents from Ikorodu in then Western Region. Papa Sobowale Benson was a Manager at defunct African Timber and Plywood Company, Abonnema in today's Rivers State.
The issue of land had a lot to do with Culture in Iboland. Chief Benson's Ibo wife was from Oba, a small town near Nnewi in present Anambra State.
Had he approached his father-in-law for a land in Oba, to build for himself a house where he and his family would always lodge whenever they were in Oba, it would have been readily given to him. But he asked for land to build for his "wife and daughter".That is Dr Abati's report. The native understanding could be that Mrs Benson, wife of Chief T.O.S. Benson and daughter, were to be returned to her parents. This would be a very serious taboo in Iboland at the time.
But Chief Benson and his wife's elder brother, a medical doctor, were neighbours on Thorburn Avenue, Yaba, Lagos. The Doctor was a medical doctor for Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. This discussion should have started in Lagos between the famous Chief and his equally highly esteemed brother-in-Law before he proceeded to Oba. If this happened, Chief Benson would have been advised on how to choose his words while making his request.
Take the one instance. The Adelekes of Osun State went to their mother's original home town, Akwete, in Abia State, some 30 years ago and asked for land to build an Adeleke family Home. They were given. And they built a Mansion there. Last year, this very last 2023, they spent several millions in Naira to renovate, modernize and upgrade that magnificent Edifice. Again, they asked for land for a Church building. They got it and they built a Cherubim and Seraphim place of worship. C & S is a Dancing Church. You may be right to think that's where the Governor of Osun State got his dancing habit from.
Let it be stressed, however, that Ibos do not joke with marriage. Families had gotten ostracized by their villages because their daughters left her husbands. I cannot be sure if this is still in practice.
It is not true that Ibos don't give land to non Ibos.
Few examples will suffice. The famous musician, Dr, Sir Victor Olaiya's father had a house in Onitsha. There was
one "Blessed James", a wealthy Yoruba man, and a Socialite who built and lived on Jubilee Road, Aba in the 1960s. There was also an Adeniyi-Jones who lived in his elegant home on Pound Road, Aba, same period. There is a district in Umuahia where Hausas have their quarters. Their great grandparents were first to migrate there. For many of them, that is the only home they know.
It shall definitely be improper to tell Prince Nduka Obaigbena, owner of ARISE Television and THIS DAY Newspapers, who not to employ in his industries.
Dr Abati is a sound, fine and knowledgeable journalist. If I had the powers, I will recommend him for S.A.N. Law teachers get it these days.
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