Benin Traditional Council suspends Isekhure

The Benin Traditional Council has suspended Chief Nosakhare Isekhure from performing the duties of the Isekhure title.
Isekhure of Benin is a member of the Ihogbe Palace Society under the leadership of Ihama of Benin Kingdom.
The responsibilities of the Isekhure were part of the traditional duties of the Ihama.
Announcing the suspension of Chief Nosakhare, Chief Sam Igbe, the Iyase of Benin, said the title of Isekhure has been desecrated.
Igbe said Nosakhare pronounced himself Head of the Royal Family and designated his home as a palace where cases already dealt with in the Oba’s Palace were reviewed.
He noted that Chief Nosakhare also boasted that neither the Emwinekhua (funeral rites of Oba Erediuawa) and consequent coronation would not hold without him.
He said: “During Emwinekhua, he neglected and deliberately refused to perform his traditional duties before, during and after the event. He has since remained unrepentant.
“We cannot believe that anyone, any Benin individual, who knows what the motivating Benin cultures and tradition are and have worn the toga of a Benin chief, could do what Isekhure did in these last two years.
“The disconnect has become actual and natural. Those duties of Isekhure will now be reverted to the Ihama N’Ihogbe.”