Benin crown prince urges support for Obaseki

• Deputy gov-elect promises to run Edo like Lagos
• ‘People voted based on Oshiomholes achievements’

Amid the protest against the victory of Godwin Obaseki, the Crown Prince of Benin kingdom, HRH Eheneden Erediauwa, has urged the people to support his government.

He spoke when the out-going governor, Adams Oshiomhole, the governor-elect, Godwin Obaseki, his wife and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), visited the palace.

According to the monarch, the peace that was achieved during the exercise was the result of the prayers that the palace offered, after the tension that had necessitated its earlier postponement.

Erediauwa urged the party’s leadership and members of the state House of Assembly to support the government, which would be sworn in on November 12.

He said: “We were worried before the election, but we had our faith in God and our ancestors. Our father taught us to pray in a particular manner and all I can say now is to thank God Almighty.

“We do not believe in any small god here, but in only one Almighty God (Osanobua) and I thank my ancestors for hearing our prayers and bringing out someone who would listen to our traditional rulers and the elders of the land.”

To Obaseki, the crown prince said: “Keep your promises, keep providing for the needy. You should not only do what the out-going governor has done, but you must do substantially more.”

He lauded Oshiomhole who, he said, although not a Benin man, had been able to publicise the very rich culture and tradition of the kingdom among his fellow governors and others outside the state.

Obaseki pledged his unalloyed loyalty to the palace of of which he is an integral part.

According to him, Oshiomhole has thought him how best to make the traditional institution to support democracy, promising that he would continue from where he stopped.

Meanwhile, the deputy governor-elect, Mr. Phillip Shaibu, has promised the people that Edo State would soon become self-reliant.

Shaibu, who is a member of the House of Representatives, told reporters at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, that he would partner the governor-elect to harness the abundant human and natural resources in the state.

He lauded Oshiomhole for his achievements and promised to work towards making the state less dependent on the statutory monthly allocations from the Federal Government.

Shaibu said: “Today, from the state’s 32nd position in the national education rating, it is now number three in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and number two in the National Examinations Council (NECO).

“We want to run this state like Lagos State which can survive without depending on Abuja. We want to take it to a level where we can pay the workforce from the internally generated revenue.”

Also, Oshiomhole’s aide, Roland Igbadumhe, said Obaseki’s victory at the polls was due to the achievements of Oshiomhole.