Benin Traditional Council said it was yet to know the aim of the Iyaloja concept being introduced in Edo State. This was contained in a statement issued on behalf of the Benin monarch, Oba Ewuare II, and signed by six top palace chiefs.
The statement queried whether an Edo woman could be made the Iyaloja of Lagos or Nigeria?
“Can this concept of Iyaloja be extended to Aba, Owerri Keffi, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and other parts of Nigeria?” the statement said.
The council advised the Edo State government on the salient tradition, warning that any deviation from the age-old cultural system of Iyeki can lead to breach of peace.
Market women had on Monday visited the Benin monarch to thank him for insisting that Iyaloja title was alien to the Benin culture.
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Frowning on the use of market associations to run open markets and play partisan politics, the statement said the twin factors were antithetical as well as inimical to the essence of market tradition in Benin culture.
It expressed reservations about the tendency for market women to allow themselves be used as pawns in the political chessboard under the guise of market associations.
The council appealed “to the market women and the politicians behind them to eschew dragging the sanctity of the name of the Oba into their partisan political affairs”.
The statement said, “The Palace feels that if we were duly consulted about what the tradition says about Iyeki Role in Benin tradition all the ensuing controversy or tension would have been avoided.
“Benin Traditional Council wishes to reiterate that in Benin, there is nothing like Iyeki general, which this lyaloja concept seems to imply. In Benin culture, lyeki emerges among the market women. After being chosen by the market women, she is brought to the palace for confirmation.
“Once confirmed, they are told to go ahead and install her as the lyeki of the market. The Palace never chooses anybody as lyeki. It is the market women that do that. Every lyeki is independent of each other. Every lyeki is culturally, spiritually and, religiously tied to the Palace.
“There is a direct functional relationship between lyeki and the Palace. Just as there is no honorary chieftaincy title in Benin culture, so also there is no honorary lyeki title in Benin culture. Every lyeki has a spiritual function she performs for the Palace and for the well-being of the market. We strongly advise that the function of lyeki should not be politicised.”
The traditional council stated, “We hope the market women headed by their Iyekis would have learned their lesson now and know their traditional connection with the Palace and what is expected of them. And learn to watch the mood of the Palace and go with it.
“The Palace feels that if we were duly consulted about what the tradition says about Iyeki role in Benin tradition all the ensuing controversy or tension would have been avoided.”