THE GROWTH OF THE STREETS

Obadan streets have modern layout structure which well inter-connected with one another. As the population of Obadan grew, the names of the streets started to rear their heads. There are six principal streets.

Edohen Street

The two versions that are held over the naming of this street are (1) that the first settlers settled where “Ede Omaen” weeds were. From this, Edohen was named. The other version which cannot be divorced from truth is “Ihe Edohen” meaning (the load of Edohen). People holding this view said that when Edohen title was created by Oba Eweka I in about 1200 A.D., villages were made to pay tribute to him. (This tribute was in form of yams, kola nuts, animals, etc.). Unfortunately, there was misunderstanding between the elders and the people as to who should carry the load to Benin City . The load was abandoned and it got spoilt. Where this load was left became known as “Ihe´Edohen” which is the present name of the street.

Orenhen Street

There are two schools of thought as to the naming of this street. One of them said that the street derived its name from long gourd (Uruenhen) which grew there. The other version said that the first person to live there was a priest (Ohen) so when people were going to see him they would say “Irhie Ore Ohen” meaning “I am going to the Priest´s courtyard. From this the Orenhen developed.

Okpagha Street

The street which is the most populous at Obadan was named after oil bean trees (Okpagha) which grew there at the time.

Enogie Street ( Former Ogiegho Street )

This was the place the Prince of Egho resided during the interregnum. This is the street of Ogie-Obadan (head of Obadan).

Igun Street

This is a street of the blacksmith. The people who formed this street were blacksmith who manufactured weapons for war.

Among the weapons manufactured included long cutlasses called “Umozo” and spears called “Ogan” etc.

Ugbekan Street

“Ugbi´kan” means (cane farm). This was where this street got its name. In the olden days, this was where canes were collected to weave wooden baskets called “Agban”. Ugbi´kan was corrupted to be Ugbekan its present name.

Adesagbon Street

The founder of Adesagbon was Ubebe Ogbomo. This is a twentieth century village. However, Adesagbon is a conglomeration of other camps like, Okungbowa´s camp, Osawaru Awanbor´s camp popularly known as Oka´hue, Egiebo´s camp and Abu´s camp. The original name was Ubebe´s camp which reigned till late fifties before that name was changed by inhabitants.

Most of the inhabitants at Adesagbon are from Okpagha street . This is where it cannot be rightly called a village because the Enogie of Obadan still has his jurisdiction over it. Moreover, the cords of unity are still at Obadan. But when we consider the distance from the main obadan town and the proliferation of camps which welded together to form the village street, it may not be safe to call it a street. I think I would call this village Obadan II (Okpagha extension) because the right to belong is still firm with the main Obadan.