Gelegele is Benin: A Definitive Historical, Geographical, and Legal Exposition on the False Claim of Asari Dokubo. By OSIFO, Osa Washington, Esq.

Gelegele is Benin: A Definitive Historical, Geographical, and Legal Exposition on the False Claim of Asari Dokubo.

By OSIFO, Osa Washington, Esq.

LL.B; B.L; LL.M, MPA; Ph.D (Comparative Economics And Development Studies); Ph.D (Law in view)

Lawyer | Political Scientist | Public Administrator | Policy Analyst

Date: June 25, 2026.

Introduction — The Moment and the Mandate:

History will judge not just what was said, but what was left unsaid when provocation sought to rewrite it. In recent days, Mr. Asari Dokubo has taken to social media to make reckless and provocative statements claiming that Gelegele river and its neighboring communities “belong to the Ijaw people and not the Edos”. He goes further to threaten that “Edo will be the next to be visited with war by the Ijaw community”. Yesterday, he compounded the provocation by launching a direct attack on His Royal Majesty Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo Ewuare II, the Oba of Benin Kingdom.

These words are not mere noise. In a nation that has bled from false territorial claims, every reckless statement is a spark near dry tinder. But sparks die where facts are stone. This essay is written not in anger, but in duty. I seize this moment to educate the world, to convince every fair-minded reader, and to place on record the true, unbroken chain of title, history, geography, and law that binds Gelegele to Benin.

As an Edo son, I write with the calm of certainty. Gelegele is not contested ground. It is Benin land. It has always been, and will remain, part and parcel of Edo heritage. The records are open. The rivers do not lie. The throne does not forget.

(1) Vivid History and Dates: Gelegele as a Benin Crown Port.

Gelegele, historically spelled “Gelele” in 19th-century British consular reports, was one of the three principal river ports of the Benin Kingdom, alongside Ughoton/Gwato and Forcados. From the 15th century, Gelegele served as Benin’s direct Atlantic outlet for trade in pepper, ivory, and later palm produce.

The earliest European reference to Gelegele appears in Dutch and Portuguese logs of the 1500s, describing it as “Ghelele, a port of the Great King of Benin”. When the Royal Niger Company sought trading concessions in 1884-1886, all treaties for the Benin River corridor were signed with the Oba of Benin, not with any Ijaw entity. The 1892 and 1894 Gallwey Treaties explicitly recognize the Oba’s jurisdiction “from the mouth of the Benin River inland to Benin City”, with Gelegele listed as a Benin customs station. After the 1897 Punitive Expedition and the restoration of the monarchy in 1914, Colonial Annual Reports 1915-1925 continued to record Gelegele under “Benin Province, Western Division”.

The Ijaw communities now at Gelegele are descendants of settlers who migrated eastward from the Niger Delta into Benin territory between the 16th-18th centuries. Benin’s ancient policy, recorded by oral historians and in The City of Benin by R.E. Bradbury, was one of strategic accommodation: settlers were given land to farm and fish, but sovereign title remained with the Oba and the Benin Crown. Settlement is not sovereignty. Hospitality is not transfer of title.

This mirrors the treatment of other settler groups across Benin territory — the Nupe traders at Agenebode, the Yoruba at Sabongida-Ora, the Igbo at Asaba. All were welcome. None became owners. Benin law distinguished clearly between Erha — the owner — and Ivbiogbe — the stranger who is hosted. That distinction is the foundation of peace in our land.

(2) Geography and Cartography: Boundaries Fixed by Law and Survey.

Geography is not opinion. Gelegele lies at Latitude 6°12’N, Longitude 5°12’E, within Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State.

This is confirmed by:

(a) The 1976 Local Government Reorganization Decree and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2nd Schedule, Part I — both place Ovia North-East, and therefore Gelegele, squarely in Edo State.

(b) National Boundary Commission Maps, 2006/2014 editions— Gelegele falls within Edo State’s internationally recognized boundary. The Benin River, on which Gelegele sits, is an internal river of Edo State from its source to its mouth.

(c) Surveyor-General of Nigeria Topographical Sheets 1:50,000, Sheet 266 — Gelegele is plotted within Edo territory. No survey, no map, no administrative instrument has ever placed Gelegele in Delta, Bayelsa, or Rivers State.

The 1963 Regional Boundaries Settlement between Western Region and Mid-Western Region, which created Bendel State, and the 1991 creation of Edo State from Bendel, both adopted the Benin River as a natural boundary marker. The Federal Government’s White Paper on Boundary Adjustment, 1996 reaffirmed that all communities west of the Benin River, including Gelegele, remain in Edo. Satellite imagery from 2024 shows Gelegele 37km southwest of Benin City by road, but administratively inseparable from Ovia North-East. Rivers do not determine ownership of land. The Benin River flows through Edo land because the land is Edo. To claim a riverbank because your people fish there is like claiming Lagos because you trade at Apapa.

(3.)Law: Statutes, Customary Law, and Decided Cases.

Ownership of land in Benin Kingdom is governed by a triad of law:

(a.) Customary Law: Under Benin native law and custom, all land is vested in the Oba in trust for the people. The Oba, through the Enigie and Edionwere, grants rights of use and occupation. This was affirmed in Osamwonyi v. D. U. Egharevba 1 All NLR 250, where the court held that the Oba is the overlord of all Benin land. Settlers acquire only usufructuary rights, not radical title.[1961]

The Supreme Court in Amodu Tijani v. Secretary, Southern Nigeria 2 AC 399 1921, established the principle that under native law, the community or crown holds radical title while individuals hold use rights. Benin’s system predates and embodies this principle. The Edo State Customary Courts Law and the Benin Customary Law Handbook compiled by the Ministry of Justice codify this to date.

(b.) Statute Law: The Land Use Act, 1978, Cap L5 LFN 2004, vests all land in each state in the Governor, to be held in trust for the people. For Edo State, that means the Governor of Edo State, not any ethnic militia leader, holds title to Gelegele. Section 1 of the Act is clear and has been upheld in Savannah Bank v. Ajilo 1 NWLR Pt. 97, p. 305.

Section 34 of the Land Use Act further provides that holders of customary rights of occupancy, including settlers, are protected. Protection is not ownership. The Act extinguished all competing claims of communal ethnic ownership. Only the State Governor can grant statutory rights of occupancy at Gelegele today.

(c.) Constitutional Law: Section 3(6) and the First Schedule of the 1999 Constitution define Edo State and its LGAs. Ovia North-East LGA, where Gelegele is located, is a creation of law. No social media broadcast can amend the Constitution.

The Supreme Court in Attorney-General, Abia State v. Attorney-General, Federation_ 2002 FWLR Pt. 102 p. 1381 held that boundaries between states are a matter of constitutional definition, not ethnic assertion. Until the National Assembly amends the First Schedule, Gelegele remains Edo.

(4) The Oba of Benin: 900 Years of Sacred Trust.

To attack the Oba is to attack an institution older than Nigeria itself. The Benin monarchy dates to c. 1170 AD with Ogiso Igodo, and the current dynasty to c. 1180 AD with Oranmiyan. The throne is today occupied by His Royal Majesty Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo Ewuare II, recognized under the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Law, Cap T2, Laws of Edo State 2004. His office is protected by Section 42 of the Constitution against discrimination, and by custom against desecration.

UNESCO recognizes the Benin City walls and moats, within which the authority of the Oba radiated to ports like Gelegele, as part of humanity’s heritage. The Oba’s Palace in Benin City houses the Iwebo and Iweguae guilds that have kept royal chronicles for centuries. In those chronicles, Gelegele is recorded as Ebo-n-Oba — “the Oba’s landing place”. No Ijaw king list, no traditional council minutes, contains Gelegele as an Ijaw crown town. As I have always said: “Public office is a sacred trust, not an entitlement.” The Oba’s throne is the highest expression of that trust. It is not a subject for YouTube debate. It is the soul of the Edo nation.

(5) The Consequence of War-Mongering and A Caution

Threatening war over Gelegele is not just legally empty, it is morally reckless. Nigeria’s history is stained by conflicts born from false territorial claims. The law is clear, the maps are clear, the history is clear.

Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution declares that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. Incitement to ethnic war violates that covenant. The ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, which Nigeria ratified, obligates all persons to refrain from hate speech and threats of violence. The world is watching, and archives do not forget. Mr. Dokubo, as I often say: “Leadership is not about noise, but about direction.” Direct your followers toward peace, not provocation. Incitement to violence is punishable under Section 51 of the Criminal Code Act and Section 24 of the Cybercrimes Act, 2015. More importantly, it stains one’s legacy.

To the Ijaw settlers at Gelegele: you are our brothers. You have lived, fished, and raised families on Benin land for generations under Benin protection. That protection continues. But protection is not cession. Live in peace, respect Benin law and the Oba, and no one will disturb you.

Conclusion — The Verdict of History.

To the world: Gelegele belongs to Benin. The records, the rivers, the Royal Palace, and the Constitution all bear witness. No video can redraw a boundary that history, law, and geography have fixed. No threat can erase a title that 900 years of monarchy have consecrated.

Let this essay be filed in the archives of reason. Let every man who seeks truth find here a clear answer.

The moon is visible to everyone. Under that same moon, our forefathers gathered in the village square not because they lacked food, but because it was proper to speak in love for the community. Today, we speak. We speak facts. We speak law. We speak peace.

Edo does not covet what is not hers. But Edo will never surrender what is hers. Gelegele is ours. The Oba is ours. Our peace is ours. And our future, by God’s grace, will be built on truth.

This is our diadem.