Oba Ewuare II has set July 2, 2026, for a traditional spiritual exercise targeting kidnappers and other violent criminals amid rising insecurity in Edo State.
The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, has fixed July 2, 2026, for a traditional spiritual exercise aimed at placing curses on kidnappers and other criminal elements operating in Edo State.
The decision follows a series of palace meetings over worsening insecurity, including consultations with native doctors, traditional priests, priestesses and youth representatives in Benin City. Reports say the monarch’s intervention is targeted at kidnappers, armed robbers, cultists and other violent offenders as concern deepens over the security situation in Edo and surrounding areas.
The date-setting gives formal shape to what had earlier begun as an emergency traditional response to insecurity. In the days leading up to the announcement, the Benin monarch had summoned custodians of traditional spiritual practices and urged them to mobilise against criminality in the kingdom. The planned exercise is therefore not an isolated declaration but part of a broader traditional effort framed as complementary to government action.
What stands out in the palace’s response is the use of traditional authority as a public instrument of warning against violent crime. By fixing a date for the ritual exercise, the palace has moved from consultation to action, signalling that the institution intends to respond visibly to the anxiety generated by repeated incidents of kidnapping and related violence.
For now, July 2 has been set as the date for the spiritual exercise, with the Oba’s palace positioning it as part of the wider push to confront insecurity in Edo State.