King Attah Ameh Oboni was born in 1911 in Ugwolawo village, near Kogi State, Nigeria. As a young man, he became the heir apparent to the Ata throne. Eventually, he ascended the throne and ruled Igala Land for ten years. He expanded the native schools and the Igala kingdom witnessed economic boom during his reign as King.>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
Apart from being an African traditional ruler, Attah was quite powerful. He could speak powerfully and his predictions would come to pass. His pronouncements always became reality. Many people were aware of his magical powers and they marveled at this unique supernatural ability that he had.
If someone misbehaved, disobeyed or disrespected Attah, he had the power to say what would happen to them. He never held back his words when necessary. Whenever he spoke, it happened immediately.
As a ruler, Attah’s position came with many dos and don’ts. Some of these traditional requirements were quite unusual. As a king, he was not allowed to see dead bodies, he could not remove his cap in the presence of people and he could not shake hands with women. Unfortunately, some of these rules later caused problems for him.>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE
He refused to bow to the Queen and was punished
It was taboo for Attah to remove his cap in the presence of others; Source: Africa Equity Media
There was a meeting in Kaduna and many traditional rulers were in attendance. The Queen was also present. While the other kings removed their caps as they greeted the Queen, Attah was reluctant to do so. Unlike others, he could not remove his cap in public, neither could he shake the Queen’s hands. What was he to do?
After much persistence and threat to send him out and dethrone him if he refused to remove his cap, Attah was forced to remove it and he tried to bow to the Queen. He had a lot at stake and any dethronement would deter his descendants from having any access to the throne. His people perceived him as a mini-god and bowing to a human seemed like an insult.
Attah yielded to the demand and as soon as he removed his cap, a lot of bees came out of it. Immediately, the meeting hall was filled with bees. Everyone ran away as soon as this happened. Unfortunately, the bees stung some people and this brought the meeting to an abrupt end.
While all these happened, another king, the Oba of Benin, was advised by Attah to go outside before removing his cap.
The Aftermath
After the unfortunate bee episode, Attah was arrested and handcuffed by some security officials. Despite the arrest, the handcuffs fell from his hands. The officials put him in a room and locked him, but after some time, he disappeared from that room.
The Queen was unhappy with what happened and she wanted Attah to be removed from his position as a traditional ruler. It also appeared that he had become tougher and couldn’t be controlled. Some of the Kings were also not happy with the way the bees attacked them and the unusual manner in which the meeting ended>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE
