Tip: the word obviate means to make something unnecessary. So you don't need to add "the need" after the word obviate. You can just say "Wasn't the promise of

Tip: the word obviate means to make something unnecessary. So you don't need to add "the need" after the word obviate. You can just say "Wasn't the promise of RESTful APIs to obviate this?" Otherwise what you are really saying is -> "Wasn't the promise of RESTful APIs to remove the need the need for such?"