A BENIN group, Assembly of Benin Aborigines (ABA), yesterday called on a prominent businessman and politician, Captain Hosa Okunbo, to rise far above political affiliations and continue to build on his steadfast leadership in the struggle to liberate and transform Benin ethnic nationality within the context of national development.

The call, which was contained in a statement titled: “Captain Hosa Okunbo’s politics, loyalty to President Goodluck Jonathan and love for the Benins” and signed by Mr. Solomon Ebuwa, Mr. Osamwonyi Osagiede, Mr. Francis Omo Osunde Iyasere, and Chief (Col.) Edward Igbinedu, came against the backdrop of the decision by Okunbo, who is a leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo South Senatorial Zone, to mobilise support for and ensure the victory of the Benins who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the April 11 state House of Assembly.

The group, made up of Benin men and women at home and in the Diaspora, said that Okunbo had, in the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections, mobilised support for his friend, President Goodluck Jonathan and candidates of the PDP in Edo South, ensuring that Jonathan and the candidates for the Federal Legislature win in Edo State.

It observed that with the defeat of President Jonathan in the presidential election, Okunbo, whose sole objective for dabbling into politics, is not to seek election into any public office, but to promote an agenda for the liberation and transformation of the Benin ethnic nation within the larger politics of the Nigerian nation, had to respond to the changing political dynamics.

According to the group: “We sincerely knew that the game was bound to change after President Jonathan lost the election and conceded victory to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. With the victory of the APC under the National Chairmanship of a Benin son, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, in the presidential election, it would appear that providence has now thrust the Benins, through Chief Oyegun, to the centre of national politics and prominence, which has all the while been the lofty desire of Captain Okunbo; and with an APC government in place in Edo State, the synergy becomes easy and complete.”

The group stated further: “For us, we believe that there was no need to continue to fight a political battle of attrition that would fracture the real essence of his (Captain Okunbo’s) politics of standing in the gap in Abuja for, and seeking to empower the Benins.

“We have all along been aware that Captain Okunbo had watched with total disbelief how political gladiators from the other two zones in the state had cornered and shared political appointments to the exclusion of Edo South.

“This is why, as he had explained to those who cared to listen, he decided to expose himself as a businessman to the vagaries of politics so as to be able to stand in the gap, politically-speaking, for the Benins,” the group added.

The group declared that his (Okunbo’s) deliberative and well-considered action of supporting Chief Odigie-Oyegun and the state government to win all the state House of Assembly seats for the Benins on the APC platform aligns with his objective to give the Benin ethnic nation a cosmopolitan outlook in national politics.

The group maintained that Okunbo has made an invaluable sacrifice for the Benin people, having stood out so distinctly at the risk of his life and business to commit the kind of humongous resources he has so far committed into the political enterprise of liberating the Benins from the shackles of predetermined underdevelopment, occasioned by years of systematic and systemic political marginalization, which has denied the Benin ethnic nation prominent positions in the Federal Government.