I was branded a black leg for supporting the Oba of Benin - Aidonojie, the Enojie of Opoji

SIMON EBEGBULEM, BENIN CITY

Recently, the Enojie of Opoji and the  first Vice Chairman, Edo State Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs, Ehidiamen Aidonojie 1, celebrated his 29th  anniversary and 60th birthday at his palace in Opoji, Esan Central Local Government Area of Edo State. The occasion was witnessed by dignitaries including the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie Oyegun. In this interview, the monarch says  he is now a born-again Christian, just as he declares  that traditional rulers  belonging  to  cults will have their kingdoms destroyed.

Oba of Benin

He speaks on life on the throne, why the chairmanship  of the  Edo State  Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs is exclusively that of the Oba of Benin, how  monarchs will vote in 2016 Edo guber and other issues.

 

How has it been in the past 29 years as the Onojie of Opoji?

By God’s grace, it has been good seeing that my community has been fortunate with development. Most of the development we had has been  from my subjects. I approached people like Chief Mike Inegbese who bought me transformers, the late Vice President Admiral Aikhomo  brought  NEPA to energize the transformers. After that we were lucky to have the first digital telephone in Nigeria. We had the station at Irrua and Opoji was connected to that network until  the GSM came. The community has always been united. We call meetings every time and chart  the way forward. We have a  health center, cottage hospital that government has not opened, we have secondary schools one of  which was  renovated and the Edo state government spent a lot of money there but the other one  is nothing to write home about. We are still trying to persuade the state governor to look at it because the

building has broken down, students now learn under the trees.

 

You were one of those  who resisted the rotation of the Chairman of the Edo State Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs, insisting that the Oba of Benin should  remain the chairman. Can you recall what led to that argument then and how was it resolved?

There was this problem we had in the Edo  Traditional Council,that was during Chief Oyegun’s tenure as governor. Traditional rulers then were deeply involved in partisan politics. We saw the Oba of Benin then supporting Oyegun and some of us supported Lucky Igbinedion. It was for that  reason  that we met in Agbede  to  define who a traditional ruler is: His kingdom must have a domain, a geographical area not responsible to any other one. We however had problem bringing in the Benin chiefs, but after Oyegun’s regime the army came in and for many years the army was there. When Lucky Igbinedion came in as governor, I told my colleagues that there  was need for us to relax  our resolution and allow the Binis come in with their chiefs as members of the Traditional Council. They all called me a black   leg and said they will not. I told them, in the Agbede accord where we  definined who a traditional ruler is, that the Chairman of the Edo State Council of Traditional Rulers, where we decided that it should be rotational among the three senatorial districts, should now be laid to rest because it has been overtaken by events since there was no more SDP/NRC. But they said no. When the governor came, he discovered that even our tenure as members of the Traditional Council had elapsed. We were supposed to be there for two years but we had been there for over ten years; so I told the governor to dissolve the council and follow the relevant edict. Lucky Igbinedion was the governor and I asked him to do three things, dissolve the council as we had over stayed our tenure,  implement the edict which says we should be here (Traditional Council) for only two years and  Edo South Traditional Council should be made to bring in their members because the Oba could  not be our Chairman and the only one from Edo South while we  were all  coming from the North and Central.

At the end of it all, the governor answered all I pleaded, those that saw me as bad leg were now coming to rejoice with me. That was how the Oba brought in his chiefs from Benin into the Council. In other words, I can say it loud and clear that I made it possible for the Benin chiefs to be members of the state Council of Traditional Rulers. As a matter of fact, I moved the motion which now changed the Council from Edo State Council of Traditional Rulers to Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs. Again I stood my ground that the seat must not be made rotational, that the Oba of Benin should continue to occupy it. I am called “Osiobaedo”, that is, a “Friend of the Oba of Benin”. He is a father, I have known him for years, I am part of the palace and we have a good relationship.

Since that era, we have had a robust relationship with Prof Osunbor and Adams Oshiomhole. But I must tell you it is only under Oshiomhole’s regime that government actually accorded us  due respect. The government recognizes us in public and private and that was never done by any government before. And at times I see in  the governor  (Adams Oshiomhole)  a man with a lion heart, a man that does favour for his enemies and friends. If you go round some states  in the country today, they are unable to pay salaries but he has managed to  pay Edo workers and everybody all these years.

 

How would you rate Governor Oshiomhole’s administration so far?

It is very clear and people can see the achievements  of Adams Oshiomhole. The schools, the roads, and paying of salaries can be  credited to Adams Oshiomhole; he also gives due respect to traditional rulers. People  think I am too close to Oshiomhole, yet I don’t have any good road in my domain. But I recognized that the man carried so much load when he came in as governor, he has built several roads and has promised to do the road in my domain soonest.

One has to be patient because government can’t do all these things at once and  he has given me his word and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly has also assured me that the road will be tarred.

Now the government has written to the  NDDC to steer clear of  the road and use that kilometer to do some other roads in the community while they do the road because that is the only access road we have to our local government headquarters, Irrua. I have to go through Esan West, and local government council, to get to Irrua.

 

There is this belief that traditional rulers are fetish and belong to different cult groups. Do you belong to any? How do you perform your traditional rites?

You may not be too far from the truth but, for me, I am a practising Christian, I am not just a church goer.   We don’t sacrifice goat, we don’t worship idol but we keep the tradition to make sure that our customs are respected; one thing we don’t do is to start kneeling down for idols or trees. As we are developing, we are getting more civilized. Christianity has come in and, of course, my people are happy with me because one, I don’t belong to any cult and two, I am a  Christian and because of that, that spirit of providing for the needy has entered me. The widows in Opoji community, I give them  rice the first week of every month, and that has been on for the past seven years. I have never missed one month. I have partnered  orphanages. I  trained one blind girl from Uromi, she just graduated and finished service, she is not from my place. I met her in Charilove. I am praying to God to bring me more handicapped or physically challenged persons to assist.

Traditional rulers into cultism don’t progress, they will have the spirit of limitation. And because I am serving the living God; if I tell you my blood pressure, you will think I am 35 years. I don’t have any problem though I know a man’s problem never ends until he dies, but God has taken care of my problems, taken care of my community; and we know that what other communities have that we don’t have God will make it possible for us. So I don’t encourage traditional rulers to go with their old tradition of being fetish. They should know God, serve God and promote justice. If a traditional ruler goes into cultism there will be no truth in that palace because he is affiliated to a group.

 

How do you appease the gods?

Which gods are we appeasing? We serve the Almighty God. I am born again, my chiefs are Christians and we pray with the holy book. It is only those that are in darkness that those things affect. If you are a Christian, those things don’t really bother you.

Only those in darkness knows how to please fake god which is the man made god.

 

What kind of governor are we looking at ahead of 2016?

A governor that will have the kind of heart like the present one. Oshiomhole has made sure that we are comfortable. One will not go for a governor that will bring us back to poverty. What I mean by that is that whatever percentage you are sending to the traditional rulers, for instance it is seven  percent, when you get it, don’t give them half or 2 per cent; we don’t want that kind of government. We pray to have a governor that will have that kind of spirit like Oshiomhole who I see as a man too righteous  to steal, not a man that who come and surround himself with sycophants and wouldn’t listen to traditional rulers or accord us  respect.

As 2016 draws nearer, it will be clearer where the arrow is going to but right now it is not clear. People are making speculations here and there but I reserve my comment on that for now.

 

I was branded a black leg for supporting the Oba of Benin - Aidonojie, the Enojie of Opoji