Obanosa

Obanosa, whose personal name was Osifo, was the thirty-first Oba ('king') of the Kingdom of Benin whose reign is generally dated from about 1804 to about 1816. Before succeeding his father, Akengbuda, he spent many years at Uselu as Edaiken ('crown prince'), the designated heir to the Benin throne. Accounts of his prolonged wait to succeed, his participation in adjudicating disputes and the tradition concerning his regnal name describe a prince who was already elderly when he became Oba. According to historian Jacob Egharevba's account, his accession followed a civil war arising from a succession dispute involving Osopakharha of Ugbague. His reign also included the capture of Ute in the Owo district of present-day Nigeria and hostilities affecting the Benin River and waterways controlled by the Itsekiri. Although direct European commerce with Benin declined during the first decade of the nineteenth century, the royal administration continued to regulate trade at Ughoton, Nigeria.

In later oral traditions, the principal court conflict of Obanosa's reign involved his mother, Ose, and the secret fraternity known as Eniwanren-Ason. According to traditions examined by art historian Barbara Blackmun, Ose opposed her son after he ordered Osopakharha's death; she was subsequently accused of directing occult powers against Obanosa and was put to death on his instructions shortly before his own death. Blackmun proposed that a group of early nineteenth-century royal ivory tusks containing much Iyoba imagery was probably commissioned by Obanosa for Ose's funerary shrine, although Blackmun also considered several other possible attributions. A civil war among Obanosa's sons followed his death. Ogbebo occupied the throne for eight months before his defeat; part of the palace was destroyed by fire, and he died by suicide, after which Osemwede established his rule. The destruction of palace objects during the succession conflict has complicated attempts to identify ivory altar pieces commissioned for Obanosa and members of his immediate family.