The Palace of the revered Oba of Benin, on Saturday, said it was not in support of the planned dramatisation of the popular Igue Festival in Lagos.
The Palace also noted a Lagos High Court order restraining the Association for Cultural and Economic Renaissance of Edo (ACERE) from holding or dramatising the yearly Igue Festival in Lagos without the authorisation of the Palace of the Oba.
The Igue Festival is an important cultural and religious event in the Benin Kingdom, and its performance is reserved for the Oba of Benin.
The Palace, in a signed statement made available to LEADERSHIP in Benin City by the Chief Press Secretary to the Oba of Benin, Mr Osaigbovo Iguobaro, said the planned event, scheduled for Sunday at the Muson Centre in Lagos, was being organised without the consent or consultation with the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II.
The statement reads, “The Oba of Benin Palace has legally aborted plans plans by a group of persons acting under the label of ‘The Association for Cultural and Economic Renaissance of Edo (ACERE)’ for attempting to ignite, fake cultural war against the highly revered age-long Benin tradition Igue Festival.
“In response to the ulterior moves and unauthorized use of the Benin Palace effigy, by the group led by Omorodion Uwaifo, a Lagos State High Court has restrained the Association for Cultural and Economic Renaissance of Edo (ACERE) from staging/dramatizing the performance of Igue Festival at Muson Centre, Onikan in Lagos without the consultation and consent of His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II, CFR, Oba of Benin, who is the custodian of Benin customs and tradition.
“In order for Uwaifo and his group not to distort our age-long custom and traditional performance of Igue festival by the Oba of Benin, the Benin Traditional Council has approached the court to restrain this association from staging the so-called “performance”.
“The Court in its wisdom and as a result of the short notice, has granted the prayers of the Benin Traditional Council. The Court ruled that by virtue of Order 42 Rule 8 of the High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019, the court has restrains the Defendant/Respondent from, repeating the use or continuing to deploy or use the image, picture, video, signature of the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II CFR, to advertise, market, propagate, or promote the staging of any play tagged IGUE-the Annual Thanksgiving Festival of Benin Kingdom, without his consent, pending compliance with pre-action Protocol.”
Iguobaro further noted that the Palace expressed “serious reservation about the drama” by the convener of the programme, who was said to have “fraudulently gone ahead to use Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo’s picture in the social media to publicise their so-called dramatisation and staging of Igue festival in contrast to the cultural, religious and spiritual implications and relevance of the festival to the Palace and Benin people.
