This revolt, however, had a connection with the Ekumeku society, although the imperiousness [display of authority] of the district commissioner [D.C] at Agbor, captain M.O.S Crew Reade, was a contributing factor. The uprising in several villages in Asaba hinterland and the killing of Crew Reade on June 26, 1906, prompted the government to launch a punitive military attack against Owa. Captain W.C.E. Rudkin, who commanded the operation here, was absolutely amazed at the furious attack against his forces in Owa Vs. The British War in 1906.

One of the British soldiers reported: “Rudkin found the whole area up in arms. The bush was dense, and the enemy was well armed with Dane guns but difficult to locate. Severe fighting took place in the southeast of Agbor, particularly on the 11th of June, when the natives were in great force. Determining resistance continued until 2nd July when half his troops were casualties. Faced with this exceptionally tenacious resistance, and fearful of the outcome of total defeat, Rudkin had to call for reinforcements.

The arrival of the new forces enabled the commander to launch a well-coordinated assault on Owa on August 3. Although Owa was “taken”, this was a pyrrhic victory, for no less than twelve of the invading army were killed and 193 seriously wounded.”

The Agbor version of Crew Reade war had it that in 1906, the District Commissioner was murdered at Owa while on an official tour. The cause was the rough handling of an old man to carry police loads back to Agbor as Eze Owa failed to provide them with carriers.

The son of the old man saw his father being treated badly as he was returning from the farm. He released his gun fired the policeman and wounded him.

The policeman had to use his gun and shot the young man dead. Thereafter, Owa-Oyibu men began to chase the tourist, and the Commissioner was wounded in the process. He managed to escape, and his cartridge got exhausted before reaching Owa – Nta where he was fired again to death by Tete. His dog hid but when the policemen came, the dog directed them to the spot where his master was killed and buried. The body was recovered and carried to Agbor.

Thereafter, the British soldiers came and attacked Owa. Agbor people became red but the Obi’s condition of ill-health and his three sons namely, Adejie, Idemije and Abaie, at Benin Government school upset them to fight against the enemy openly. He reasoned that the lives of these children would be in danger if war was declared. But the henchmen volunteered and kept the soldiers from entering into Owa. When their strategy was detected, Agbor was warned by burning their houses before they gave way, and Owa was taken in August 1906. As it were, the Ikas could not maintain complete neutrality, thus Agbor, Umunede, and Ute-Okpu, all enlisted their sympathy in Owa’s struggle.

In the struggle, seven British Officers and numerous soldiers were killed and wounded. All the Benin Chiefs that came with the Europeans ran away and some unfortunate ones were massacred. During the war, the Agbor people sang this song. Obi sei enyi ojo, nke enyi egu agbada ye enyan, “meaning if not for the Obi ill-health, and these boys at Benin, we would not tolerate seeing soldiers fighting Owa people, we could have pierced our eyes with a sword “, that is to show our bravery.

In June 1906, District Commissioner, Crew Reade was murdered at Owa, and the Kwali-Ishan Patrol resulted. There is nothing to show that the Agbors took any part in this rising, but they closely related to the Abavo clan who assisted the Owa and is doubtful if the Agbors maintained an attitude of strict neutrality.

There are many versions of the Crew Reade War – Agha Iredi, on Owa in 1906, by Owa people, but the ones given below are more striking to the writer. The cause of the Crew Reade notorious war of attrition on Owa people was more as a result of an inefficient interpreter, who aided by faulty etymology, took the opportunity to stress the value of his ideas or the civic sense of the time.

It would appear that Captain Crew Reade had good intentions to develop Owa Kingdom on the strength of his time. In the beginning, he told an Owa assembly, Ogwa, through an inefficient interpreter that he would introduce an economic tree, Araba, [Araba was in the rubber specie], to them. He explained that the juice substance in this tree could be processed in different forms and sold for money. But the interpreter, Mr. Tokumbor, who was the forest guard simply told the Ogwa that the District Commissioner [D.C], Nwadisi, promised to plant Araba, Osisi ame egho for them. He forgot to blend this statement for the proper understanding of his audience.

The D.C. thinking that he was interpreted correctly directed the forest Guard to plant Araba trees in a portion of bush in Owa -Oyibu, which was to be brushed with the help of the Owa people. The trees were planted, and as they germinated, Owa people continued to pour hot water on them rather than nurturing them.

They did not want the araba to survive; their premise being that to the best of their knowledge, no tree could yield money as fruit as Nwadisi told them. The forest guard planted and replanted Araba trees in the area, but the Owa people continued to destroy them with hot water.

In those days, no Ika people had knowledge of Europe, America, India or any other areas of the white people; think less of having people from there. The belief of the ancient Ika people was that any coloured human beings were from areas unknown to them.

Such people were strangers, and described as having come from water, nde umu miri, who must be dreaded. Owa elders wondered why this man from water could come to deceive them. Many asked why he could leave his water-based home to come to their area looking for money if he knew the tree to plant, which would ‘bear’ him money.

The Forest Guard was said to have fallen in love with one Owa lady during his constant visits to Owa-Oyibu. One day, when he visited on his official duty, he was benighted and he retired to his friend’s apartment.

During their discussion, Mr. Tokumbor informed his friend that the District Commissioner wanted to help her people with Araba, a very useful economic plant. As would be expected, the lady did not hesitate to reveal to her friend why the trees did not thrive in Owa. She told him that the plants were continually destroyed by her people with hot water.

Mr. Tokumbor later related this to the District Commissioner who vowed to teach the Owa people sense for so doing. To implement this plan, Captain Crew Reade took along with him as usual some Tiv soldiers as his guards to Owa-Oyibu. In the course of discussing, there was an outburst of noise and excitement by the audience after the interpreter had put one of the D.C’s messages. “What was the uproar about?” The D.C. inquired. Almost immediately, he orders the soldiers to fire into the air in order to stop the uproarious situation. This appeared to be what he could have ordered the soldiers to do. But some of the soldiers could only pick the word, ‘fire’, and two of them shot into the air killing one Chief [ some say an Olotu in Owa], three other people and some person left wounded.

The frame of mind of the Owa people over this incident could better be imagined than described.

Captain Crew Reade appeared to have under-rated what the Owa people could do as a result of this incident. He possibly took things for granted, perhaps because he had an army to guard him. This problem would have been minimized if the D.C. had quickly left for Agbor. He mistakenly retired to his Rest House to keep the night at Owa-Oyibu.

Gong sound, okokoko and Okoro gba oso trumpet tunes, and clandestine movements, put Owa people on alert. The Owa militant group and hunters were fully prepared with their Dane guns and other fighting materials, ihien ogun.

The women were not left out; the omu group, the witches and wizards in the Owa kingdom, were all mobilized to join in the fight in different ways. Messages were sent to every Owa village to stay guard all the roads and footpaths to and out of Owa-Oyibu. The clarion call to all was that this wretch was not to leave Owa land alive.

In the middle of the night, the Owa militant groups attacked them and succeeded in killing all the guards. As a former soldier, Captain Crew Reade dodged and meandered their bullet, and tried to escape back to Agbor. When he got to Ebu Arara in Owa-Nta, he noticed that his Dog was not following him. As he was riding back in search of his Dog, he was shot by Tete.

This was on 26th June 1906. Owa people attributed his death to his concern for his Dog. Ok, nkite gbu Iredi. There was jubilation everywhere in Owa, and many songs were formed to mimic his death in their rallies.

For example,

Iredi-o, oo, Iredio,

Oku kite egbu Iredi, nomuni nwa,

Iredio-o-o.

Meaning: Crew Reade-0,00, Crew Readeo,

The concern for dogs has killed Crewe Reade

because he has no child,

Crew Readeo-0-0.

Owa people were ignorantly carried away by their momentary defeat of the Nwadisi and his guards and felt that all was over.

It was not long before the British troops came to bombard them. Owa militant groups put up valiant resistance. Initially, the Owa fighting groups continued to barricade themselves, obstructing the roads by cutting down trees, which lined them, and by firing their enemy’s trenches. The fight of this war was better taken as reported by the British soldier Captain W.C.E. Rudkin who commanded the operation as has been stated earlier.

Scarcely had the war started when, on 3rd August 1906, Queen Victoria died. Soon after this event, the British officials came to Owa. They diplomatically tried to make peace with them, explaining that all the troubles were over since the Queen under whom the war was fought had died. They continued to cajole the Owa people to meet the British for peace talks to end the matter properly.

Right from the start of the Iredi problem, the reigning Obi of Owa, Obi Igboba, had been sceptical about the whole affair. When the trouble became intense, he abandoned his palace and went into hiding in an iku-u. The British had come twice to meet the Owa people without seeing the Obi. During these visits, they presented them with bales of tobacco, cigarette, assorted types of hot drinks, and other valuable materials, which they had never had before.

The gifts were increased during the second visit, which attracted more Owa people than the first. The British promised to bring them more gifts during the third visit, which was proposed to be held in Warri. They were then requested to ensure that their Obi was to be present. The Owa people took the British seriously and narrated all that transpired to their Obi. He was thus unintentionally lured to the British.

When they got to Warri on the “D” day, all of them who were taken by the British together with the Obi were charged with the murder of Captain Crew Reade. Only one of them. Echenim, who later became the father of Archdeacon Peter Echenim, the founder of St. Peter Anglican Church in Owa, was set free. The Obi of Owa with 15 of his Chiefs were taken to unknown destinations.”

“…Owa Kingdom enjoyed a long period of peace until the British disturbed its peaceful history with the Crew bloody event of 1906 …One Mr M.O.S. Crew Reade, an imperialist administrator lost his life in the hands of gallant Owa nationalists… In retaliation, the British reinforced its military operations under the command of Captain W. C. E. Rudkin and reduced Owa to a fief of the Agbor Kingdom.

Throughout the British rule, Owa was subjugated into the administrative structure of Agbor…”17

On the part of Ute-Okpu, the Colonial masters diplomatically told the Obi to bring out 12 of his strongest war leaders for some commendations and some people surrendered. They were carried away, some to Calabar while others were taken to unknown destinations.

In the second version, tradition has it that at that time, Owa people were against the intrusion of the British, which was adjudged as an infringement upon the territory of the kingdoms in the Ika area. The British attitude or posture toward the polished and cultured Owa people endowed with candour, self-pride and dignity showed that Crew Reade’s administration did not have a single respect or regard for them. The introduction of foreign doctrines, which could not be said to fulfil the theory of “iron sharpens iron” was the beginning of disagreements between the Owa people and Crew Reade whose leadership style was autocratic.

In 1906 Crew Reade and his entourage visited Obi Igboba of Owa, his Chiefs and elders at Owa-Oyibu, the traditional and administrative headquarters of Owa Kingdom. At several meetings between the duos, Crew Reade demanded more professional carriers for the transportation of goods and luggage for the Whiteman. If this system was a little short of slavery, it was nevertheless forced unpaid labour.

When Crew Reade was told that some carriers who had earlier gone on similar trips were yet to return and that no more carriers would be assigned to him until the former ones had returned, he did not accept the suggestion. So, he was given some carriers under duress. One should not forget the problem of correct interpretation of the views of the Owa people by the interpreter who might have distorted the information.

On another occasion, Crew Reade visited the Obi-In-Council at Owa-Oyibu and introduced a form of levy, which Owa people saw as asking for their pound of flesh. The discussion quickly deteriorated into an angry argument. Owa people insisted that they must have their rights protected. Crew Reade was adamant to the oppressed and did not give voice to the voiceless. This angered the Obi-In-Council as the District Commissioner’s motive was completely misconstrued and misunderstood mainly as a result of poor communication skills. There was the fact of aggression-prone individuals as well as differences in personal traits, behaviour and emotions at play.

This misunderstanding degenerated into a very strong disagreement between the Obi-In-Council and Commissioner Crew Reade whose action was as despotic as it was dictatorial. It was seen as a case of tyranny of the British over Owa indigenes. It involved an emotional feeling of anger, in which Crew Reade attempted to have his course or point of view prevail over the Obi-In-Council. The essence of dialogue was defeated by the high-handedness and arrogant disposition of Crew Reade and his men.

The misunderstanding could not be resolved mainly because of Crew Reade’s pride, pomposity and high-handedness. Perhaps, he thought that it was a challenge to his technical expertise for Owa people to offer suggestions on how to treat carriers. He also thought that he could bully and threaten them into submission. He looked down on their rustic simplicity from his imaginary towers of worldly sophistication. Of course, Owa indigenes resented that condescending approach to them.

When Crew Reade and his followers were intimidating and molesting Owa people as well as treating them with disdain and levity, they probably did not realize that they were putting their hands into a comb of angry bees. They felt no qualms enforcing their proposals. They manhandled some Chiefs and elders who were vociferous critics of Crew Reade’s inordinate ambition to lord it over them. The Crew Reade men descended and injured many of the Owa citizens in the process. Their actions were regarded as sacrilegious, contemptuous and a great insult to the Owa people. Crew Reade and his men probably never reckoned with the high incidence of protests and riots that greeted their intolerable intimidation at Owa-Oyibu, which could result in fire for fire.

The serious crisis that erupted was mismanaged. As a result, the Obi-In-Council was maltreated, ill-treated and humiliated. This was because Crew Reade saw the conflict as being caused by flagrant disobedience and refusal by the Owa people to cooperate with the British and surrender to her rule. Owa people were also seen as a threat to the White man’s entry into Ika-land. On the other hand, the Obi-In-Council saw the actions of Crew Reade and his men as bitter pills to swallow. They also saw the imposition of the British system of government as an attack on their culture and tradition. Their approach to life was also seen by the British as naive.

On hearing about the harsh and unfair treatment of the Obi-In-Council by Crew Reade and his officials, an angry mob led by the youth leader, Olotu from the town invaded Owa Royal Palace ground, the venue of the meetings. When Ukwute, the youth leader, was seized and his second in command, Egbai, attempted to rescue him, scuffles broke out instantly. This inflamed the already dangerous situation. The fury was made worse when Egbai was shot dead, there and then by one of Crew Reade’s armed bodyguards. The populace was soon alerted of the inhuman treatment and the horror as Crew Reade failed to see an opening to the resolution of the bitter conflict. We should not be unmindful of the fact that a people held down by an oppressive and unjust system can resist such a position either peacefully or violently.

As soon as the news of Crew Reade’s brutality spread like wildfire in the entire Owa Kingdom on that fateful day, the hunters gathered immediately and ambushed him along the road to Agbor. As Crew Reade was riding away on his bicycle, he was given a hot pursuit by the angry mob. Thus, the encounter that followed led to the chase of Crew Reade to Owa – Nta where he was silenced by the gunshot from Tete, the great hunter. The eventual murder of Crew Reade was first greeted with relief and relaxation. Although Owa people heaved a sigh of relief at the end of the provocative acts of Crew Reade, they were gripped with apprehension and a feeling of panic about the repercussions of his death. As a result, they prayed constantly and consistently for God to deliver them from the impending doom. As the murder of Crew Reade brought great fear to Owa and her neighbourhood, the people trembled and shuddered in fear at the looming danger. They were afraid that they would be handed over to brutal soldiers who were experts at destruction. As the polished and sharpened sword of debacle was hanging over them, they beat their breast in despair and lived in anxiety. They were terrified, distressed, troubled, stubborn, defiant and rebellious because of all the disgusting, obscene and degrading things done by Crew Reade’s administration. As a result, they have had some missteps, mistakes, difficulties, challenges and setbacks. Their sacrifices and prayers to ward off the impending doom did not prevent the British from attacking Owa.

Soon after Crew Reade was murdered at Owanta, a battalion of the West African Frontier Force arrived at Agbor. The soldiers who boiled with anger wanted to wipe the stubborn and rebellious Owa people off the face of the earth with their sophisticated weapons. They were informed that the Orogodo River was the boundary between Agbor and Owa before they launched a well-coordinated assault on Owa. The soldiers were also told to “eat up” everything on the Owa side of the river. The anger and fury with which the British army poured on Owa for daring to murder Captain M.O.S. Crew Reade were very severe.

As the battle was excruciating at the Owanta sector, and determined resistance had been met with the natives being well armed and firing wonderfully, the British army could not penetrate into other Owa towns and villages. As the determined resistance of hard fighting Owa people continued unabated, some bitter enemies of Owa people who were bent on annihilating Owa people acted as spies for the British army. They assisted the soldiers in invading Owa through the footpath from Abavo to Owa-Oyibu.

The soldiers arrived at Owa-Oyibu undetected and suddenly began plundering. This sudden attack from the rear put Owa to rout. Hell was let loose thereafter. Those who saw the invading army ran helter-skelter in different directions unsure of what to do immediately. Some of them fled to the nearby towns and villages such as Obazagbon, Ogba, Aliefume, Iru-Igwaza and Owariuzor, while others retreated into the bush. Some of the fighters escaped death by ‘a hair’s breadth’ as Owa bowed to the superior firepower of the British army.

When Obi Igboba, the reigning monarch was captured, the tumultuous and violent revolution was brought to an end.

Among other Owa neighbours, only Ute-Okpu people showed brotherly solidarity and rallied around their kith and kin to put up a fight to repulse the British army with aggressive hostility, which an English writer called “stubborn resistance with their crude implements, traditional powers, ingenuity and determination” Owa people resisted the formidable British army for 55 days. This was the longest continuous battle between the British army and a single indigenous town or clan in West Africa.

Captain W.C.E Rudkin who commanded the punitive military operation against Owa, was absolutely amazed at the furious attack against his forces, as one of the participants wrote, and as stated above.

Owa people suffered untold hardships and grinding poverty. Their houses, means of livelihood, especially domestic animals as well as farm and economic crops, were wantonly destroyed. Women, especially housewives were rapped and defiled against the customs of the people. The soldiers also took a large amount of loot from Owa. Starvation was the greatest disaster of the war as many people starved to death.

Even though Owa was defeated, the Colonial government realized that Owa people were no pushovers. As the war was a bitter victory for the British army, the government sued for reconciliation and peace. Owa people were tricked into coming out of their hide-outs. Their Dane guns and other instruments of war were destroyed. With British tricks and antics, some Owa prominent Chiefs as well as some able-bodied men were carried into exile where most of them died. Also, Obi Igboba of Owa was incarcerated in Warri where he joined his ancestors at a very ripe age. This made matters worse and affected Owa adversely, and most people were too distraught to speak about the tragedy. Some of those, who deserted Owa as they were genuinely afraid of another treachery and deceit, did not return till today. Thus, the population of Owa was drastically reduced.

As Owa people were weakened and left in a slumber as a result of the conjugation by the British army,

deep Owa neighbours started to marginalize her. Owa people were almost entirely excluded from all facets of British government positions. However, Owa survived near total annihilation, as her wings were not totally clipped. The survivors of the Crew Reade’s war took their destiny into their own hands. To the astonishment of her rivals and enemies, the survival and rebuilding of the devastated towns and villages in Owa were more rapid than expected. At that time, Owa people were able to put the past behind them and used their experience to face the challenges of the time appropriately.

Also, there were succession problems, and some resulted in internal wars. For example, there was a war of succession to the Abavo throne during the reign of Obi Ocheri I. This occurred between Igbenije and Ocheri. When Obi Idabor who was the eleventh Obi died, his first son, Ocheri, who was the heir apparent, was still a minor. The brother of Idabor, who was then the most senior surviving Prince, was asked to ascend the throne as a Regent until Ocheri came of age.

Regent Ogbebor died on the throne. Before Ocheri who was then grown up could ascend the throne as the rightful Obi, Igbenije, the first son of Ogbebor held fort to the throne. His premise is that his father, Ogbebor, had reigned as an Obi.

This event occasioned a very bitter war between the supporters of both men. Abavo became polarized and fractionalized and was thrown into a state of civil war. Igbenije had the support of the Udomi people since his mother came from there, while Ocheri had the support of the Azuowa people as his mother hailed from Oyoko. There was a complete breakdown of law and order in Abavo. There was a mass kidnapping of people. Young Abavo women were abducted and some were given out in marriage into other lands. Many people voluntarily escaped from Abavo for safety. Abavo tradition has it that many valuable artefacts and materials were looted and destroyed in the palace during this period.

Eventually, the truth prevailed, and Ocheri ascended the throne as the twelfth Obi of Abavo. Some of the persons kidnapped, abducted and those who escaped were able to trace their roots back to Abavo after several years. Many others never came back. Some of the abducted young women blossomed into some very eminent families in their newfound homes.