BIO GUERRA STATUE - AÉROPORT BERNARDIN CARDINAL GANTIN DE COTONOU
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Bio Guerra resisted against the colonizers whom he fought at the cost of his life. The story goes that with the help of his horse he climbed the tree during the battle. This is what explains his posture as a fighter, an arrow in his hand on his horse ready to attack. It doesn't seem very pleasant that a foreigner coming down to the country would be greeted by such an aggressive image of a statue.
For this specific place, a welcoming statue or a symbol of union or solidarity would be more appropriate.
Prince's name: Wasangari Gbaasi N'Guera
Name: Bio Guera
Father's name: Sabi Yerima
Name of his mother: Y?n G?n (she lived in Sua Balé in Nigeria.)
Dynastic branch: Mako-Gbasi.
Professional activities:
Cultivator;
Chase ;
Merchant ;
Educated to ride a horse, to handle the bow and arrows.
Hero's journey and object of resistance:
Born in 1856 and killed in action on December 17, 1916;
Resistant and “figure of the rebellion” alongside the Wasangari, Boowo, Peul and Baatonnu peoples of the former territory of Barutem.
He fought against deprivation of liberty, head tax, conscription, forced labor, colonial oppression;
He brought help to the populations of the village of Gbéku against the exactions of the Wasangari of Buanri in the south, Gberudaba and Bouka in the east.
Bio Guera was living in Gbasi - northwest of Niki - when the Baatombu war of resistance to French penetration broke out;
Bio Guera actively participated in August 1897 in the war led by Saka Yerima (first opportunity to test his courage) and several times defeated the colonial army on expeditions;
He organized the siege of Bembéréké and then, with his troops, transferred the war to Baura north of Bembéréké;
After almost a year of fighting in Baura, hunted down, the warrior chief fell under the murderous bullets of the colonial invader, on December 17, 1916;
Distinguished "national hero" in 1975.
