Chief David Edebiri, the Esogban of Benin Kingdom in Edo
State and Chairman of Benin Forum, the umbrella body of all Binis in the
country and Diaspora said unknown to many, witches run the government
and make decisions that are binding on all.
He explained: “There is the upper class; those are the people
running the government. They run the government all of us are. And once
they make decision in that area, it is binding all over. They think of
how the society will grow.”
Edebiri who oversees operations of witches and wizards among other
traditional functions, said though he is the “departmental head” of
witches and wizards in the monarchy, he was not a witch himself but he
was only rendering service to humanity by taming their excesses.
Asked where he acquired the authority he uses to tame suspected witches and wizards, Chief Edebiri replied: “Ah,
it is the power of God Almighty and that of the Oba of Benin
(laughter). We have averted much havoc that these people would have
caused in Benin Kingdom.”
Speaking to Vanguard, he recalled a time when witches were very
brutal in Benin Kingdom until a traditional parliamentary action was
endorsed by the great, great grandfathers, to put together a group,
which he (Edebiri) is presently the leader, to curtail their excesses.
According to him, in the past, witches were either killed or sent to
the evil forest, but now, the erring ones were court-martialed and
deactivated to live a new life.
Chief Edebiri revealed that most of the witches are either church
singers or something in the church but they do not succeed anywhere the
name of Jesus is mentioned.
He said: “I tell you that most of them do not succeed anywhere
Jesus is mentioned. And I asked them, do you mean that you people fear
the awesome power of Jesus Christ, they said yes. I asked them further,
if you say that you fear the power of Jesus, how do you feel when the
pastor is condemning you people in the name of Jesus, they said they
will be condemning the pastor too. But I can tell that so many of them
have been converted to Christianity after passing through this place.”
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