Ada and Abere

[1][2] State swords have been used for centuries to represent the ancient rights bestowed from Ife to various Yoruba, Yoruboid, and neighbouring groups, including the Fon, Ga, and Benin Kingdom.

[3] Veneration of Ògún As seen in the Orisha tradition, the Yoruba greatly revere their departed ancestors, and as such, have the belief that prayers offered to them are potent to procure temporal blessings.

Ogun, one of the earliest kings of Ife, the totemic capital of the Yoruba nation,[4] is venerated as the spirit of metal work and as a primordial Orisha of creativity, warfare, and technology.

[10] The sword was ceremoniously placed in his hands while the calabash was set before him to chose, but before then, the King-in-making had to swear an oath never to ever attack the territory of the kingdom of Ife.

The Dahomean King Glele adopted the Gubasa for his coat of arms, the blade was pierced with patterned holes whose shape signified Ogun.

[19] This fore-bearer came with three of these early scimitar forms; one for himself, one for the Oba, and the third for the chief Ine of Igun who became head of the blacksmithing (brass casting) guild in Benin.

[21] The Omo n'Oba of Benin, the Olowo Of Owo, and the Olu of Warri, are among the kings who had a sword-bearer carrying an Ada whenever they presented in public.

[26] While his account contains the earliest known written name of the sword in the Benin kingdom, this type of object is more commonly known today as an “Eben” by the Edo people.

On the other hand, among the Urhobo, one of the largest neighbours who derived certain aristocratic titles from the Benin royal court, people still know and remember the same sword by the name Abere(n).

Whether for ceremonial use, or for conventional use, it is evident that swords across these cultures have taken on varied identities, and many early oral traditions point to Ife as a source of their royal authority.

"In the last century the most powerful Yoruba king was the Alaafin of Oyo...He overshadowed at that time the Oni of Ife, but nevertheless he received from the latter the Sword of Justice at his coronation."