Fire razes historic Urhokpota hall in Benin

A midnight fire on Saturday razed a section of the famous Urhokpota hall in Bénin City, the Edo State capital.

It is at the Urhokpota hall that a new Oba is first unveiled to the people.

Governor Godwin Obaseki first declared his intention to run as governor of the state at the Urhokpota hall in 2015.

Urhokpota (“Okpota’s gate”) hall was first built during the reign of Oba Ozolua in the 15th century. It was reconstructed in 1906 and used for the coronation activities of a new Oba.

A combined effort of Ogbe Community youths put out the fire following frustrating efforts to get firefighters

to the venue of the fire incident.

One of the hall attendants, Mr. Moses Obamwonyi, said he received an anonymous call that his office was on fire and he quickly ran to the place to ensure that the fire was put out.

“I asked a neighbour to take me here. I got here and went to the fire service department and they said they were handicapped. They said besides having no water, they said their trucks were bad.

“I took the risk and put off the electrical switch. I ran to Ogbe community and shouted for help that Urhokpota is on fire. The community came out and we went to Ethiopia Publishing premises. They allowed us use the water there. It was the water there and help from the community members that enabled us to curtail the fire.

“It would have got worse if not for the cooperation of the Ogbe community. This place would have become debris,” he said.

Chairman of Oredo Local Government Area, Mr. Jelkins Osunde, could not be reached for comments.