Agho Obaseki

Agho Obaseki's great great grand father, Prince Emokhua N’Obo was a native doctor and had a power tussle with his brother over the accession to the throne of their father, the Obi of Nsukwa and son of then Oba of Benin, Oba Ehengbuda.

He thereafter left for Benin City to start a new life and there he met Crown Prince Idugbowa, later Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi who took Agho under protection and a friendship between the two men ensued.

[1] When Prince Idgubowa became Oba Ovonramwen, Agho enjoyed a monopoly in trading palm oil and kernels for European products such as rum, matches, salt, clothing, silks, and other imports.

Consequently, Agho brought great wealth to Oba Ovonramwen and himself and was rewarded as the head servant of the Benin royal house charged with settling minor household disputes.

[1] Obaseki played a crucial role in the events leading to the Fall of Benin from the Punitive Expedition of 1897.

Oba Ovonramwen stood trial in August for actions leading up to the Punitive Expedition, was found guilty by the British, deposed, and exiled to Calabar leading to a leadership vacuum that the British filled by making Obaseki the de facto head of the newly constituted Benin Native Council because of Obaseki's administrative skills and political acumen.

Obaseki now had as wives, the daughters of two successive Obas (first Ovonramwen who married off Orinmwiame[7] while in exile, and now Eweka II).