A group, N’Edo Gheria, based in Benin, Edo State, and a palace chief, Dr. Godwin Ekhorutomwen, have condemned media reports credited to a group, Otu Odolevbo – Osioba, calling for a ban on Edo State Deputy Governor, Dr. Pius Odubu and Mr. Godwin Obaseki, from contesting the All Progressives Congress, APC, party primaries slated for June 18.
Also, founder, Afemai Heritage and Cultural Studies in the state, Alhaji Usman Abuba, has said that the Binis stand the risk of losing the governorship slot to Edo Central senatorial district of the state if they do not check the activities of some of their chiefs, noting that the call for the disqualification of Odubu and Obaseki was laughable.
Odubu and Obaseki Otu Odolevbo-Osioba had, in a statement in Benin, called on the national body of the APC to, as a matter of urgency, bar Odubu and Obaseki from contesting the party’s governorship primaries so as to save the interest and image of the party.
Meanwhile, Chief Jolly Ogbeifun, the Enobore Ugboko, who was said to have signed the statement by Otu Odolevbo-Osioba along with Chief Jackson Igbinovia, the Osagiobariase of Benin, has denied signing the document.
He said: “I wish to state categorically that there was never a time I issued a statement on the forth- coming governorship primaries of Edo APC. The publication came as a shock to me when my attention was drawn to it on my sick bed.”
On his part, a palace chief, Dr. Ekhoruiomwen, said those who signed the document for the Otu Odolevbo-Osioba were not palace chiefs but enigie and chiefs in Benin villages, alleging that they were being sponsored by some desperate governorship aspirants who know that they cannot win the APC governorship primaries.
However, N’Edo gheria, in a statement in Benin, yesterday, by its state co-ordinator, Agene Patrick, described the statement credited to Otu Odeolevbo- Osioba as not only mischievous and myopic, but one capable of causing acrimony within the rank and file of the party.
Urging the national leadership of APC to disregard the comment by the faceless Bini chiefs, he said that in a democracy, issues such as contestation and lobbying were bound to happen.
Also, Abuda, who described the call as unreasonable, said: “Were those chiefs speaking as representatives of the palace chiefs, certainly no.
They were simply making inexplicable political statements seeking recognition.”
(Vanguard)
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