Written by Ekhaguosa Aisien (Last UpdateApril 5, 2022)
EZUKU {OGHOGIOTOR} was a contemporary of AGBAN the EZOMO of Benin and was himself also a warrior. He served in the Oba Palace as a member of the IBIWE Royal Society with responsibilities for the care of the Royal HAREM.
AGBAN was an EZOMO of Benin whose period of service spanned the two reigns of Oba ORHOGBUA and Oba EHENGBUDA four hundred years ago.
AGBAN’s story is well-known. He is one of the more easily remembered warriors of Benin land. Those exploits of his which caught the imagination of the public took place in the territories of the IKAS and the western Ibos. These territories had earlier been brought under the suzerainty of Benin by EWUARE the first expansionist Oba of the Kingdom. One of the warriors who helped Ewuare to maintain and expand the conquest across the Niger to the East was a man who by the sound of his name was obviously of Ibo antecedents his name was EZUKU and his praise-name his OGOGOBIAGA. He was sad to be merciless and non-discriminatory in the way he ladled out miseries to his opponents.
Ewuare settled EZUKU in OGAN the village across the Orhionmwon River from ABUDU town and facing IKA territories EZUKU died there and was deified.