Igala Quotes

In the meantime, it seems the Portuguese had kept their side of the bargain. In 1515, Oba Esigie was fighting a war of survival against a local rival. The Attah of Idah, ruler of the Igala people, was a formidable enemy to the north, who, perhaps with the assistance of cavalry, forced Benin’s army back to its city walls.11 Disaster was narrowly averted, according to common lore, because the Portuguese stepped in with their guns. It was, Patrick Oronsaye told me, an intervention that ‘changed the course of Benin’s history’. Two white men – Ava and Uti – are said to have fired the weapons, with stunning effect. ‘Noise, smoke, death at a great distance. The Idah army reeled back.