One of the monarchs that have carried himself with admirable gait and
candor in Niger Delta, nay Nigeria and the world is His Royal Majesty,
Benjamin Ikenchukwu Keagborekuzi, Dein of Agbor Kingdom, an Igbo town in
Delta North Senatorial district of Delta State.
Born on June 29, 1977, the 38-year-old monarch, who became the world’s
youngest monarch when kingmakers installed him in 1979 at the age of two
years, four months, has demonstrated wisdom beyond his age. The
Guinness Book of World Records captured the rare feat in its 1981
edition.
He has avoided scandal like a plague and rarely grants press interviews.
However, he finally broke his time-honored silence...
Last week, he played host to a team of Vanguard, led by the Editor of Niger Delta Voice in his palace:
What was childhood like, how did you grow up?
As many people know in Nigeria, I crowned at the age of 2 years, 4
months and not too long after that for security reasons, I had to travel
abroad. As at the time that I was crowned, I will take as honour to
Nigeria because honour to anybody in Nigeria is an honour to the
country.
The Guinness Book of Records recorded the country as having the world’s
youngest crowned monarch at the time. I grew up in the United Kingdom;
it was very interesting and as far as am concerned, that was the
building block of who I am today.
Security reasons
Rather than growing up with silver spoon in my mouth, which I would have
grown up with had I been here with my father, instead I grew up in a
country where I had to be very silent about who I was for security
reasons. However, the relevant authorities, royal palace and queens’
palace knew who I was and where I was. The headmaster in the schools
always knew who I was, but thanks to those who made it so and I am
very grateful for this, I was able to grow up pretty normally without
the rest of the children knowing who I was and I have always enjoyed
that. Therefore, it was somewhat a strong training ground for me.
I finally came back to Nigeria in the year 2000; I had been to Nigeria
previously on two occasions for short visit. The final coming back was
after I aged 15, I had become very pro-African after understanding that
Africa is actually the cradle of civilization. Africa is where the great
stories of the Bible mainly took place, Africa is where you can find
the Garden of Eden, we are great people in Africa and at 15 years, I
dedicated my life to making sure that the world one day will recognize
Africa as it was in the distant past.
So, it has been a very interesting life, it has taught me one thing, we
are all human beings, those in position of power and leadership are
simply in a position of trust, our people trust us and we must dedicate
our lives to serving them. Once again, being abroad taught me that even
it is once every year, those in leadership should go somewhere where
nobody knows them.
Arguments and problems
It will make them to remember that we are all the same, I drive and I go
out incommunicado on my own, we all bleed, we all cry, we all have good
days and bad days and we will all join our ancestors one day.
Therefore, what we do in life is cherish what we have and people around
us and stop the war, the arguments and problems, be your brother’s
keeper, these things are part of my growing up and what made me who I am
today.
There was a report then that the Oba of Benin took custody of you then, can you confirm this?
Certainly, you can imagine that the Oba of Benin and Ooni of Ife were
quite instrumental with the government of the day in making sure that I
was crowned. Many people do not understand that the relationship between
Benin and Agbor kingdoms is a very ancient one.
We are direct blood brothers, so at that time, there was a lot of
pandemonium, my life was at risk, the safest place for me then was to
have stayed with my brother, the Oba of Benin. Therefore, I was there
briefly before they finally took me abroad.
At what point in your life did you find out that you are a king?
From the moment I was born, I knew that I am a monarch to be, just like my son, he carries his royalty very well.
There was this succession battle while you were outside the country, how did it play out?
First, there was never anything like a succession battle, so you have
two assumed facts that are very incorrect. We have a tradition here that
dates back to 721 BC, which is our first dynasty of which I am the 19th
monarch. From 1270 AD, the monarchy here is hereditary, so
if you know that there is a hereditary monarchy and there was a
vacuum, then there cannot be a succession battle. The interest then was
simply a matter of the Regency Council; a regency council had to be in
place to manage the affairs of the kingdom.
Of course, the regency council is just like an authority, an agency, it
is something that happens whenever there is a vacancy anywhere in this
country, so everybody was very interested, that was simply what it was.
Can you recall while in the UK how you carried yourself knowing you are a king?
The same way I have always carried myself with the knowledge and
responsibility that I have people that are relying on me. It is the
same way that I still carry myself knowing that if I embarrass myself, I
embarrass my people.
Interest in parties
Anybody in a position of power should know that, I have always kept
myself very quiet; I have never been interested in parties and going out
with friends and or that. My interest is to serve my people and how
best to promote Africa. We produce the resources; Africans feed the
world, so it has always been very important to me that Africans should
organize themselves so that we regain back our glory from the days of
Egypt. Unfortunately, every nation goes through its bad stages. Africa
has gone through its bad stage of slavery and it disorganized us. During
slavery, they carried away the best and fittest of our people, they
took them away to build Europe for them, build America for them, we are
proud of these things, but at the same time, we, as Africans have to
look back and start doing for ourselves what we have done for others.
Therefore, in England, I have my friends, I have my Indians friends and
African friends too and I enjoyed it because it was a period of learning
for me, just like any other young man at the time.
What are the odd things that you have had to go through in life?
Odd things, I have not had odd things in my life. As I said, I have
always kept myself to myself; I try to stay away from contention and
problem. From when I was very young, I have never really been with
people of my own age because I find them talking about girls constantly,
about cars and parties. It is quite boring to me, especially when
people are dying and need help. I will rather be talking about how to
rebuild Nigeria, how Nigeria can take pre-eminence in not only Africa,
but in the international world.
We are hoping that our present President, Muhammadu Buhari will follow
up on what former presidents of Nigeria have done and improve on it. I
think here in Nigeria, we like to talk about negative things too much
and when you talk about the negative too much, you will be surprised
that you encourage the negative to happen, this is a great nation, and
we have many things to celebrate, let us talk about the positive things
in life and celebrate them.
What is the strangest thing that has ever happened to your in life?
The strangest thing that has ever happened to me in life, it to be in a
country that is very rich and the people are very poor. The strangest
thing I have ever seen is to have such a great nation, to have such a
great people, Nigerians are very intelligent people, if you go anywhere
in the world, check their great institutions and achievements, you will
find that there are one or two Nigerians behind the feat.
Who played the role of father to you after the death of your father?
Once again, as you mentioned earlier, Oba of Benin has played that role
for me, his cousin in London, Dr. Robert Obaze also played that role.
Equally, the Ooni of Ife has played that role; the Emir of Kano has
played that role. In current times as I always joke with him, I call him
big bros; the Sultan of Sokoto has recently been a very big brother
since he ascended the throne of his ancestors.
Chief Alex Duduyemi is another man that has been a great influence in my
life, I cannot forget the former president of this country, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, is a great father to me. He is somebody that I turn
to when I have difficulties or I need to discuss things, I enjoy his
company, I enjoy his wisdom and I thank God that he is still willing and
able to fight for this country the way he had fought.
Having spent a good part of your life abroad, what are you missing now you are in Nigeria?
I am missing good roads, instead of five hours from Lagos to Agbor, I
would rather if the road is good want to spend two hours, I enjoy
driving, I love powerful cars, it gives me pleasure but we do not have
good roads. If we have, I will like to drive myself while my chiefs can
follow me, although they might not like the fact that I am driving.
However, somebody has to relax somehow; but certainly, I miss the fact
that we do not have good roads because without good roads, we lose many
lives.
I miss constant electricity, I feel sad that so many successful business
executives in this country, rather than spend their profit on building a
stronger company, they have had to dedicate so much of their profit to
buying diesel and I think it is counterproductive. I also miss a lawful
society, disciplined police force, but we are working towards that, I
think everybody is sitting up now that we have a very strict president,
we thank God for that. This is the follow up from President Obasanjo
that we have always wanted.
How has it been occupying the sacred throne of your fathers for about 15 years effectively?
It has been challenging, I have been on the throne for about 36 years
now, not 15 years effectively as you said. In Africa, the young ones are
supposed to be seen and not heard, but circumstances have brought a
situation where the young ones are now heard, many elders are not
comfortable with this, many elders would prefer to talk to the young
ones and be talked back at.
Huge potential
So I took the risk, I took it for the nation, for the good of all
because I could see young men that were on a dying situation. Not
understanding how to move forward was causing destruction and that
destruc-tion would affect all of our lives, that was what inspired my
trip to the creeks. I was very shocked when I got to the creeks, I went
with one of my subjects, who is now a chief, Rear Admiral Elumah (retd),
I thank God I had a naval man to help navigate the water. The other
person, who is an army general, was not too comfortable on the water,
but I thank God that we got there and I saw that there is huge potential
in the creek. We can turn the creeks into Miami and California, it is
beautiful there but unfortunately, oil has caused so much damage.
And indeed after hearing all the horror stories of kidnap and all that,
as my boat was going this way, I saw Dokubo-Asari going the other way
and I was wondering what have I gotten myself into, but while I was
expecting to see a very huge leader of the militants, a very violent
person, I was completely proved wrong. An amiable, respectful and soft
spoken and humble Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, walked in and we
sat down and discussed.
He told me what their grievances are and he took me to his house, which
he had built to make a statement that it was possible to develop the
creeks. After showing me the house, he asked me if the state government
cannot do likewise and I remember that very clearly, his intention of
building that structure was to prove that if he can do it, what is
stopping government from doing it. In addition, he took me round several
projects in the creek communities, which both the state and federal
governments have been doing, many of which remain uncompleted.
I can tell you, these were what made the boys bitter and I took that
away with me and until this day, I will never forget how they shouted,
how they hollered, the Dein of Agbor in the creeks! Nevertheless, why
not, is this country not my own as well. If Nigeria is embarrassed, will
I not as a Nigerian abroad be embarrassed, I will not want them to
single me out when I am travelling because I am a Nigerian to search me
and suspect everything about my passport.
People see Tompolo from different perspectives depending on what they
know of him, how do you see him which year was this famous voyage?
It must have been around 2007 or 2008 at the height of the problem.
Many Nigerians I have noticed in the 15 years I have been here comment
on people they have never met before. If I listened to people before I
met Obasanjo, I would not have met him because I have heard all sorts of
horrible things about him. However, when I met him, I found out that
he loves Nigeria and is a good person. I have said this earlier.
The same thing with the young man Tompolo, he is fighting for his
people, he might not necessarily be doing it in the best of ways, but
his intention is simply struggling for his people. Now, can you imagine
if we do what is correct, as President Obasanjo had tried to do, as
Jonathan tried to continue and I am sure this present regime will also
continue, will we not be able to tap minds like Tompolo, Dokubo-Asari
instead of exerting their energy against the country? Tompolo is a man
that is soft- spoken and respectful. My advice is not to judge people
before you meet them and find out who they really are.
Brother’s keeper
Let us be our brother’s keeper. What happens if Dokubo-Asari with all
his fire and strength is fighting to push Nigeria forward, I think we
will all enjoy it, these are very strong people, let us not always
give a negative picture of our people and the worst thing you can do in
life is to judge somebody before you ever met him. We do it far too
much, it is a very dreadful thing, discuss with somebody first. I did
not know who I was going to meet when I ventured into the creeks and as
I told you, I was very shocked at how quiet Tompolo is. I have never
heard an angry word from him, he speaks with such a silent voice that
you start to wonder that when a quiet person blows up, the world
trembles.
Therefore, please Nigeria, Buhari is a very quiet person, let us not
upset the man, when your brother does something that is wrong, do not
embarrass him in public.
