Edo family wants father’s entitlements from Britain 82 years after demise

By OZIORUVA ALIU, Benin City

The family of late Eneduna Walter Obaseki has called on the British government to pay them the pensions and entitlements of their patriarch who they said served the British government during World War II and in the process earned the British War Medal awarded by King George VI that accorded him CBE (Commander of the British Empire).

A letter to the British High Commissioner and British authorities in Abuja, Lagos, London and Buckingham palace said direct descendants Eneduna have been shortchanged over the years and want that corrected even as they say the only surviving child of Eneduna Obaseki was already 93 years old and longed to see the wrongs were corrected in her life time. He reportedly died in 1939 and that the British government even participated in his burial.

The letter signed by Mercy Ededuna Obaseki on behalf of the direct descendants of Eneduna Obaseki said her grand father was the only one who heeded the call for young boys and girls in Benin City after the 1897 expedition to travel to United Kingdom to acquire formal education where he rose to several positions serving British government.

Part of the letter said “Even when the entire Benin Kingdom was in doubt if any good will come out from the invitation for young men and little boys to be sent to the headquarters of the glorious British Empire, London for proper formal education and training in The Royal Navy, Sciences, Engineering, Construction Maritime Works, International Trade, British Military Careers, and General Merchandise, he was the brave and only one who yielded that call to go to England for training in that first time soon after the Benin city expedition of 1897.

“Help us so that we the direct descendants will be able to raise our heads high in the society and become great by mentioning the works of my father and grandfather and letting people know his works and services to humanity in an era of trust building and international global relationship.

“So, right now, I need the British government to respond and do the needful, let us have The benefit of our grand patriarch so that we will be able to tell the world how he got the opportunity for his education abroad, when everyone else in Benin City could not trust The British to give out their children for training in the U.K.” (Sunday Vanguard)