EXCLUSIVE: Peller: Secret Reasons Oba of Benin"s Queen Exposed Benin Council (Nigeria)
Citadel of tradition or not, this queen is defying that to speak out about her innocence.
Recall the controversy that erupted over the alleged "unauthorized" visit of comedian Peller to the palace of the Oba of Benin's palace which prompted the Benin Traditional Council to take struct disciplinary measures against some palace dignitaries and declare Peller wanted?
The Council even said it was considering sending a Queen who was the hostess of the visit out of the palace.
Well, the affected queen (the Oba has six queens) has come out to state her side of the story.
Posting a letter, the Queen said in her tiktok account that Peller 's visit was approved. She said the palace received his letter requesting a visit and the pal approved, even designated Uyiekpen Ogiefa, the son of a chief in palace to conduct him around.
This corroborates Peller's longstanding defence that he dough for and got approval before he visited the palace, though he was told the Oba would not receive him.
Mega Mode Media's critical analysis of this new development. This newspaper concludes that: firstly, the letter bears the date, name, stamp and signature of a supposed palace official detailing how Peller's visit would be conducted.
Secondly, if this letter is real, as also said by Peller, why then is the Council saying the visit breached tradition and protocol of the palace?
Thirdly, the palace chief whose son was detailed to take Peller around is the chief that Council announced has been "suspended indefinitely". Since the queen hinted that the incident is very "deep", is this a well-laid trap to remove the chief from the palace in some kind of palace politics? In this case, this chief may very well be the loyalist and confidante of the Oba. This would serve the purpose of eliminating the backbone and support state of the king to weaken him and make him vulnerable. Or, malleable to the Council's control.
Fourthly, for the queen -also suspended now- to speak out via social media in a deeply cultural enclave where patriarchal authority must be sought on all things, can we say the Oba is displeased over how the entire incident is being handled and gave his queen the permission to speak out in an indirect way of voicing his displeasure?
It does not seem likely this queen would risk worsening the situation by not getting his approval before posting the letter aimed at putting her side of the story out. Since, maybe tradition forbids him from speaking out.
This hints at deeper tensions in the Oba of Benin"s palace. Peller's visit was just the excuse needed to execute a plan. It could be that the Benin Traditional Council and the Oba of Benin are locked in a dispute and this was a way to embarrass him or challenge his authority.
Peller (Courtesy Google)
Moreover, this view is further strengthen by the fact that Peller did not visit the sacred areas of the palace, it is mostly confined off to visitors anyway. So, he committed no sacrilege. Therefore, detaining & arraigning some palace staff in court, suspending his queen and removing a bona fide palace chief"indefinitely" over the visit of an influencer to public areas of the palace seems extremely harsh. Like, killing an ant with a sledgehammer.
Unless there is a power tussle behind the scenes.
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