Africa & Global Power

The history of SBJ Oshoffa, the founder of the Celestial Church of Christ, is marked by divine encounters. While praying in the forest, he had a vision of three creatures: a white flying monkey, a snake, and a yellow bird. He went on to perform numerous miracles, including raising the dèaď and healing a màd woman in Yaba. He was also blessed with 13 wives and 53 children, who lived together in love and harmony. Samuel Bilewu Joseph Oshoffa was born on May 19, 1909, in Porto-Novo, which was then the capital of the French colony of Dahomey (now Benin). He came from a Yoruba family with a mix of religious beliefs—his father, originally a Muslim, had converted to Methodism, while his mother practiced traditional religions and opposed Christianity. When he was just three months old, his mother left him and returned to Imeko, where her husband lived. Oshoffa’s father was a carpenter, a detail later seen as significant for someone who claimed to have received divine visitations from Jesus...

Oral Tradition posits the Aja people migrated to Southern Benin between the 12 th and 13 th centuries from the Tado region along the Mono River. Accordingly, three brothers were said to have inhabited this region namely Kokpon, Do-Aklin and Te-Agdalin who further split the region then later occupied by the Aja people. Subsequently, Kokpon took the capital city of Great Ardra ruling over the Allada kingdom; Do-Aklin established Abomey later capital city of Dahomey Kingdom; and Te-Agdanlin founded by Little Ardra (Ajatche) further called Porto Novo by the Portuguese expatriates and the current capital city of Benin. HISTORY OF THE AJA PEOPLE The predominant name of Aja people is Gbaya and their ancestral home was situated at Gbotu, north-west of the Naka near Buma. During the period under review, precisely, during Zubeir’s period, the Aja people were ruled by Nur al Angara representative of Suleiman but their tribal leader Mereke spent most of his time with this warlord. Followin...