Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor, President of the One Love Foundation, non-governmental organisation and social crusader, has given Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, 24 hours to come out and apologise to the people of Benin and denounce whoever wrote a statement denigrating the Benin monarch, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare 11, Ogidigan.
In an exclusive telephone chat with Popular News, Chief Eholor said: “It is rather unfortunate that politics has degenerated to this low. This was just too bad to the Obaseki camp. It is not a credit to Obaseki and his administration.
“As a matter of fact, it is a disservice to people of Edo State. It is a disservice to the entire nation. Our revered monarch cannot be compared to any other monarch. We are talking about the cradle of civilisation.
“It will interest you that we only have two kingdoms in the world. First among the equals is Benin Kingdom. And we also have two cities in the world. The two cities are Benin City and New York City. So, it is rather prospetorous and unfortunate that the Obaseki people would reduce themselves so low to try and insult the monarch.
“This is the revered Oba of Benin that we all cherish. I think honestly the Oba played the role of a father when he called them(the politicians) and referred to them as his sons. I don’t see anything that the Oba did wrong. What where they expecting.
“The Oba admonished Obaseki. He told Obaseki that he has called him for a meeting twice and he declined. That Obaseki did not respect his invitation. That if he had respected the invitation that they would not be at this stage today.
“I think the Oba was very fair and right. He also said that ‘Shaibu, my son, I understand that you’re the tough one. Ceasefire and tell your thugs to take guns away from the streets. We do not need bloodbath in our state.’
“And the Oba continued in his wisdom to say, ‘my dear son, Obaseki, there would be life after eight years in office. Don’t worry it is not a do or die affair. Please, manage the situation. You are governor of all of us. Not the governor of APC or PDP.’
“I think the Oba spoke very well. In my own opinion, Obaseki is part and parcel of this insult to our monarch because a reference was made to his grand father who betrayed Oba Ovoranmwen. If he feels the betrayal blood is not in him anymore he should come out and denounce it. If he don’t denounce what is wrong it means he is accepting or giving support to what is wrong.
“So, I am giving Godwin Obaseki 24 hours to come out and apologise to Benin people. To denounce whoever that wrote this thing by this impostor that said he is Osaro from Canada. It has also been revealed, but you’re not going to hear that from me now for security reasons, who did it is a relative of Godwin Obaseki. If Godwin Obaseki do not come out to deny it it means he is aware of it and approved of it.
“This is not about do or die. It is not worth dying for. I also know that Obaseki has said in various platforms that he is not anxious about coming for a second tenure. If you know you’re not anxious of coming for a second tenure why are you dragging the Oba of Benin into this mess. We have never seen this in our time. This is the first time we are seeing this.
“I want to appeal to the good people of Edo State to condemn this in totality because it is not the Oba that is being insulted here. It is we, the Benin, we the Nigerians, we the Africans that somebody is trying to dare our monarch.”
Going forward, Eholor asserted: “We know those that have dared our monarch before. We know what they suffered. Do not forget in his own words, the Ogidigan of Benin Kingdom, Ewuare 11, the great, said: ‘I invite you here to mediate between man, God and my ancestors. I leave you all to be the judge.”
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