Of dangerous hearsay

Obokhian! (Welcome)

Sir John Kirk a government representative to the Niger coast interviewed by a reporter on Jan 14 1897 regarding the Benin Massacre confirmed that he personally knew nothing about the Benin king, except what he heard from merchants, and that was exactly what he had read in the press, namely that the king stops all trade to Benin, will allow no white trader to enter his district and was constantly having executions. He continued by saying that he had heard not from people who were likely to exaggerate, but from people who had been there and described what they saw, that there were dead bodies and remains of executions lying about the town.

So far, we know that the Whiteman was not allowed into The Kingdom of Benin, therefore  the merchants being referred to must have been other natives and according to newspaper articles on possible survivors from the Benin Massacre and according to the views of many people of Liverpool ‘Account of the African natives cannot be relied upon as they constantly are only able to give accounts of what they thought might have taken place, and not what actually happened ( (The Guardian 1821-2000; Date: Jan 14, 1897; Section: None; Page 5 '

The allegation of executions and bodies laying about town cannot therefore be taken seriously, intelligence would dictate this. However the truth and use of common sense were the first casualties in this takeover bid.

Oh, there is one other small matter. There can be no dead bodies laying about the place in Africa without vultures hovering above. In the absence of mention anywhere of this scientific fact, this claim can be relegated to the fantasy world of a figment of some people's colourful imagination; one ruthlessly ceased upon by the empire acquiring British

Oba gha'to; Okpere!
Ise!

                                                                      Long Live the King!