Ewuare, the first Bini warrior king, was himself forced into exile as a young prince and nearly would not have ascended the Benin throne. With death penalty hanging on his head as a result of some misdemeanor, he fled into the woods although regularly, secretly visiting the city of Benin at night.
The elders (Edionisen) heard about his secret visits and set a trap to capture and kill him. Just as he was about to be caught, he escaped to the home of Ogieva Nomuekpo, who hid him in a well covered on top with leaves. Ogieva then went to invite the elders to come and arrest Prince Ogun as he was called then.
While Ogieva was on his way to call the elders, Edo, the head servant of Ogieva's household alerted Prince Ogun about his master's diabolical plan and helped the prince to escape. Ogieva returned with the elders to find that he had been betrayed and he severely punished Edo for this.
After several years in the bush, Prince Ogun began to grow weary of his vagabond life and accepted to be crowned Oba Ewuare of Ubini land around the mid 15th century AD. The father's throne had been vacant for a while then and he was the oldest heir.
On the throne, one of his first acts was to reward Edo with many valuable gifts. After Edo's death, he bought his corpse from Ogieva and buried it at the entrance to the palace's inner tower. Then he decreed that the land of Ubini should henceforth be known and called Edo. This was later expanded to Edo O'Evho Ahire, meaning Edo the city of love, in appreciation of Edo's love that saved young Prince Ogun's life and gave Benin her greatest king.