Oba ESIGIE was the first monarch in Benin who accepted the religion of Christianity. He became an enthusiastic convert to the European religion, and laboured mightily to make the faith the state religion of the land.

Esigie’s Oba Ozolua to whom the Portuguese explorers also preached Christianity had not thought much about the preachments, nor even about the articles of the trade which the explores brought from Europe and with which they expected to open up trade between Portugal of the gun which the Portuguese  possessed, a weapon unknown in these parts in those days.

There is some flimsy evidence that the idea of the Christian faith was also mentioned to Esigie grandfather, Oba EWUARE the first Oba of Benin to have contact with the Europeans.

The acceptance by ESIGIE of Christianity and his efforts to make Edo-land embrace the new religion shook the Benin kingdom to its foundations, and nearly led not only to Esigie’s loss of his throne, but also to a complete dynastic change in Benin

Chief OLIHA and the other UZAMA nobles disagreed with a change of the religion of the land with the resulting side lining of the ancient gods. They ostracised the palace of Oba Esigie. The Oba retaliated with the creation of a parallel body of UZAMA Chiefs headed by Chief INNEH of IGUN Street this alternate UZAMA N’ IBIE the UZAMA in Esigie’s palace.

The emergency UZAMA were mocked by the old UZAMA as counterfeit. Since when, argued the old UZAMA did usage allow an UZAMA noble to live with the Oba in the inner Benin City like ordinary Chiefs, sharing the protection of the Inner Moat with the king?

Stung by this derision Esigie and the head of the Uzama n’ Ibie, the Inneh n’Igun embarked  upon the digging of a MOAT at the back of IGUN Street to separate the Street symbolically from the Oba palace. The Inneh n’ Igun, on his way to the royal palace, would  then be obliged to cross a Moat so that it could be truthfully said that he was a Chief of the IYEKE-IYA, a beyond the Moat Chief, with the prestige, the independence of action and the near-parity to the king-head which that status

A portion of that make-believe Moat can still be seen today behind IGUN Street. It is now a gully, at the back of the EDO HOUSE along Akpakpava Road, the building now occupied by the United Bank of Africa. The gully currently serves as a Car Park for the commuters to that area of the City

The quarrel between Esigie and the UZAMA escalated and developed into open warfare. There was a pitched battle between the parties with the Uzama n ‘Ibie Chiefs and heir troops constituting a portion of the royal army. The old UZAMA of Chiefs Oliha were worsted. The victory achieved in his battle is commemorated yearly in the Palace ceremony of the UGIE IRON.

With the defeat of the UZAMA the Oliha decided on the same course of action which his ancestor had adopted four hundred years earlier when the UZAMA at that time also desired a change in the ruler-ship in Benin. At the invitation of that other Oliha Prince ORONMIYAN of Ile -Ife had arrived in Benin to begin a new ruling house in Benin City since the End of the reign of OWODO, the last Ogiso.

The Olíha decided on the removal of Esigie from the throne, and the replacement of his ruling line with another dynasty which would leave the gods of the land undisturbed in their pre-eminent position in the lives of the people. The cats-paw which the Oliha chose for this Purpose this time around was the ATTA, the king of the IGALLA, across the River Niger.

Why did the Oliha cotton on to the ATTA of the lgallas to help bring about this change of government in Benin?

A probable reason is the ruling dynasty in IDAH had Edo origins. Samuel Ajayi CROWTHER, later Bishop, writing one and a half centuries ago in 1854 in IDAH, during the River Niger Exploratory Expedition of which he was a member said:
“The first ATTA of IDAH was an ADO man a tribe with the ABOH people call IDU. He was a hunter who settled in Idah in Igarra. A quarrel arose and he drove IGARA, the king of IDAH”

The ATTA of Esigie’s time, whose name probably was OYIGBO assured of the existence of a strong Fifth Column in Benin as represented by the UZAMA Chiefs waiting to Support his efforts at the conquest of the City invaded Benin. Four hundred years earlier the same UZAMA Chiefs were also the Fifth Column. the Enemy Within, who led Oronmiyan into Benin, and provided him with the succour on which he and his offspring thrived and by which they finally triumphed to establish a new dynasty the Oba dynasty in the land.

But the ATTA was robbed of victory by the guns of the same Christian forces he had been called upon to help drive away from Benin. He had left his capital IDAH with a huge army, crossed the River Niger and marched on Benin. Conquering and pillaging as he progressed. The last victory he had achieved before he got to his ultimate target as over AMOR town on the outskirts of Benin on the other side of the IKPOBA River AHOR was a large centre of population, a conglomerate of ten principalities, each with its own Enogie. The Atta put nine of the ten Enigie of AHOR to the sword. Only one of them escaped his ferocity, representing the only principality in Ahor to this day.
The Victory over Ahor enabled the Atta to march through OREGBENI village, descend the Ikpoba Hill and cross the river to the bottom of the lkpoba Slope. Virtually unopposed He prepared to ascend the Slope and take Benin City.

But high up on the Slope Christian guns were waiting, primed concealed in the foliage of the greenery. They were manned by the Portuguese Missionaries in Benin, reinforced by the few Portuguese Traders in town. When the guns opened up the Atta and his army were quickly routed. Fire-arms were unknown, at that time, to either the invaded Edo or the invading Igalla. The Igalla army turned and fled pursued right into the gates of IDAH by Esigie and his army.
The defeated Atta became a vassal of Benin.

Encouraged by his victory over the Igallas, and the collapse of the UZAMA opposition at home, an unrestrained Esigie devoted all his energies to the encouragement of the acceptance of Christianity in Benin. He built a Cathedral and three Chapels in Benin. The Chapels were built at OGBELAKA, ERIE and UGBAGUE Quarters of the town. The Cathedral was built along AKPAKPAVA ROAD. There was of course a fourth Chapel. This was in the Oba Palace, for use by Oba Esigie. The ARUOSA Shrine of OGBELAKA stands on the site of the OgbeIaki Chapel of five hundred years ago.

It is probable that the three Chapels built in the City were in reality primarily intended as schools, with of course a little Chapel attached to each where Mass was said before the day’s teaching began. This supposition is provoked by the fact that two of the three “Chapels”, those of Oghelaka and Ugbague have the same adjective attached to them. Each is referred to by its Priest as:
Aruosa N’Ewaen.
“The Chapel of Wisdom”, or
“The Chapel of Knowledge”
With the building of the Akpakpava Cathedral therefore, three schools were probably built, in the densely populated areas of the town where the teaching of the rudiments of literacy was attempted. The schools were built as more Portuguese Priests became available to man them Christianity like Islam, is a literate religion. The three satellite ARUOSA in the City, and perhaps also those which were built in some of the near-villages were in reality like the “Ile Kewu ‘“the Arabic House or the Quoranic Centre in Islamic communities, where the Moslem Imam teaches children, clutching their wooden states, how to read and write in Arabic and therefore how to read, write and recite the Koran
If these suppositions are accepted, then the Aruosa Shrines at Ogbelaka, Erie and Ugbague in Benin City are in reality the sites of the earliest Christian Schools in the geographical extent of Nigeria, just as the Aruosa n’Akpakpava is the site of the earliest Christian Schools in the country These three sites would represent the finest in the efforts of Portugal to bring the inestimable gift of literacy to Benin under the guidance and encouragement of Oba Esigie. Are there any Benin bronze plagues in existence which could today be interpreted as depicting a scene in such a school or of pupil writing table to the teacher?

Oba ESIGIE, a converted and convinced Christian incorporated into palace ritual many of the usages of the Roman Catholic Church. The Maltese cross, with its four limbs of equal length, which was the form of cross the Portuguese brought to Benin was adopted as a palace motif and can be seen reproduced today on the ADA, the state Sword of the Oba of Benin. It is also liberally reproduced, the coral, on the hats and other regalia of the monarch and his Chief. The Morning and Evening Mass said in those days by Priests for Oba Esigie in the Palace Chapel continue to be celebrated today, especially the Evening Mass or VESPERS which metamorphosed into the daily EGUAE EMATON Palace ceremony when the indigenous religion of the land later swallowed up the imported religion, as bush does to an untended patch of cultivated land

The EGUAE EMATON or EGUAE “MA SS” ASON. “The Ceremony of the Evening Mass,” was a daily evening affair until the IYARE episode of the year 1925 after which Oba Eweka the Second decided to shift the performance of all Palace ceremonies to the hours of daylight, to put the minds of the Colonial Officers in Benin at rest regarding the goings-on in the Palace Ceremonies