Edo: Don’t become ‘hidden godfathers’ to Obaseki, Oba of Benin warns PDP govs

OBA of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, has urged the People’s Democratic Party to give Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State the latitude to operate in his full capacity as governor.

The monarch said the party should guard against enthroning the concept of godfatherism, which they campaigned against in the build-up to the Edo State governorship election held on Septem-ber 19.

The royal father said this while playing host to five PDP gover-nors, who paid him a courtesy call at his palace in Benin, on Tuesday.

Governors who accompanied the host governor, Obaseki, on the visit were Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Aminu Tanbuwal (Sokoto), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo).

Oba Ewure II said, “I want to, on this occasion, plead with the PDP to guard against godfatherism and not to allow unscrupu-lous members kill your party. I will tell the PDP governors not become hidden godfathers that will be controlling Governor Obaseki.

“All hands should be on deck to work for Edo State and Edo people everywhere they may be. This is where everybody will be proud to belong to. I said the whole world is watching Edo State and I thank God and our ancestors that the elections came with-out any violence.”

While speaking during the event Obaseki expressed gratitude to the Oba for his kind words and promised to rededicate himself to serving the people of Edo in his second term.

He said, “You are our Oba and it behooves on all of use to pre-serve the traditional institution. You have kindly received us to-day; I want to assure you that as the governor of Edo State, I have heard your admonitions and I want to promise that I will rededi-cate myself in my next tenure to the full service of the state and the people of the state.”

Earlier, Wike who introduced his colleagues to the monarch said, “As it is our tradition in PDP, we will always respect the tradi-tional institution and whatever promise we have made, we will always fulfil that promise. You made a promise to us that as a traditional ruler, you are apolitical and so, that you will not can-vass for votes for anybody but what you preach is that there should be peace, there should be free and fair election.

“Your Royal Majesty, we have seen with our eyes that there was a free and fair and peaceful election. We are calling on everyone to team up with your son for the development of Edo State.”