PIQUED by the inability of the Federal Government to fix the dilapidated Benin-Ore-Lagos road despite several years of complaints by road users, Oba of Benin, Oba Erediauwa yesterday walked out the Minister of State for Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi, from his palace, saying that he would not be welcomed in the palace again until the road was fixed.
The minister was in company of other leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who had visited the monarch to present the party’s candidates for various elective positions in Edo South in April election.
Oba Erediauwa upbraided the minister for subjected his subjects travelling from Lagos and those coming from abroad to hardship because of the state of the road.
But the PDP chieftains present, including Edo South Leader of the party, Owere Imasogie, Senator Daisy Danjuma as well as a Benin chief appealed to the monarch for more than 10 minutes to spare the minister.
But the Oba insisted that his chief who pleaded the minister’s cause should stand surety for him that the road would be completed by the end of the year.
Ogiemwonyi, in his defence which seemed unconvincing to the Oba, said major parts of the road leading from Ofosu to Benin have been rehabilitated and that the Federal Government was already concluding arrangement to start work on the Ofosu to Lagos axis of the road.
It would be recalled that the minister during his inspection of the road two weeks ago ordered the construction company to move one of their gangs to begin rehabilitation work from the Benin end of the road.
Oba ghA Tor Kpe E ! Ise !
The Oba of Benin, or Omo N'Oba, is the oba or king of the Edo people, and formerly the Benin Kingdom from 1180 until 1897. 'Oba' means king or ruler. The Edo or Benin homeland (not to be confused with the modern day country of the Republic of Benin, which was formerly known as Dahomey) has and continues to be most significantly populated by the Edo (also known as the Bini or Benin ethnic group).The title of 'oba' was created by Oba Eweka the Great, the kingdom's first 'Oba'. The current capital is Benin City in modern day Nigeria.In 1897, the British 'Punitive Expedition' (see Benin Expedition of 1897) sacked Benin City and exiled Oba Ovonramwen, taking control of the area in order to establish the British colony of Nigeria. The expedition was mounted to avenge the killing of an official British delegation in 1896. The expedition consisted of indigenous soldiers and British officers. To cover the cost of the expedition, the Benin royal art was auctioned off by the British. The Oba was captured and eventually exiled until his death in 1914.The present Oba, Erediauwa I, is the 39th Oba of the dynasty.
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