The Making of a Philosopher-King

Presents to the world and posterity the workings of a great mind, a great Philosopher-King who was called the Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa, CFR, Oba of Benin. The book will enable former critics to appraise more intelligently the great role he played over the years in the positive development of Nigeria and the World at large.

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This book presents to the world and posterity the workings of a great mind, a great Philosopher-King who was called the Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa, CFR, Oba of Benin. It will enable his former critics to appraise more intelligently the great role the Omo N’Oba played over the years in the positive development of Nigeria and the World at large, as well as the consistent stands he took on issues of fundamental importance.

The student of theology will find the Omo N’Oba’s address to the Benin Anglican Diocesan Synod (Chapter 1) challenging and inspiring; historians and students of government will find his special lecture, “The Roles of Traditional Rulers in Local Government” (Chapter 3), and his paper, “The Problems of the Transition from Colonial Status to Independence with Special Emphasis on District Administration” (Chapter 7), exhilarating and well-researched. Students and masters of political science will find “A New Political Order” (Chapter 4) rewarding, as it is distinctively indigenous, imaginative and original. Practitioners and students of law will, no doubt, find the paper on the Land Use Act (Chapter 5) vexing but irresistible; and, of course, researchers, journalists, biographers, archaeologists, anthropologists, and sociologists will find the various speeches invaluable.

The reader is advised to peruse well the address to the opening sessions of the Benin Anglican Diocesan Synod (Chapter 1), the special lecture “The Roles of Traditional Rulers in Local Government” (Chapter 3), the memorandum submitted to the Political Bureau on a New Political Order (Chapter 4), the paper on the Land Use Act (Chapter 5), the paper titled “The Problems of the Transition from Colonial Status to Independence with Special Emphasis on District Administration” (Chapter 7) and the address titled “Let There Be Peace” on the occasion of the 40th Foundation Ceremonies of the University of Ibadan, as well as the memorandum submitted at a meeting of traditional rulers held in Owerri titled “Students’ Unrest-Suggested causes and Solution” (all in Chapter 9).

The caveat is this: The reader who brings his predilections, prejudice and bias about this great King to bear on his reading of this work will find the book drab, but the person with a skeptical, objective, analytical mind who reads with a view to informing and educating himself or herself will find the work most illuminating and enjoyable.