GOVERNOR OBASEKI'S RARE COURAGE IN IMPLEMENTING THE TRADITIONAL RULERS AND CHIEF'S LAW OF 1979.

We, members of Edorodion Union, heartily salute governor Obaseki for the rare courage he displayed in the implementation of the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Law of 1979. The 1979 law is the extant law guiding the appointment of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs and their activities in Edo state and even Delta state. The law gives the governor and the state executive council the sole prerogative to constitute traditional councils in all the 18 local government areas in Edo state. This is the only law that recognized the role of traditional rulers as agents of change in modern Edo state. The constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria did not give any role to traditional rulers in the present dispensation. Traditional rulers in the state are placed under the purview of the ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs.
It is disheartening to hear few Benins criticizing, vilifying, and even insulting the wake and see governor for the courageous act of giving the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs in the state, particularly the Edo south, the necessary re-engineering in order to meet modern challenges. It is out of place for some people to accuse the governor of doing what he did because he lost out on the issue of the returned artifacts. We can authoritatively say that the governor has not coveted having the artifacts to himself but had supported the building of the palace museum. It is on record that the governor had on behalf of the state government donated one hundred million naira to the building of the palace museum.
It is also uncharitable to accuse the governor of bulkanizing the Benin kingdom. It is this same sing-song that played out during the last exercise in attempt by the progressives in Benin in recommending the creation of over 12 local government areas in Edo south , wherein only seven local government councils were eventually created to the chagrin of the progressives in Benin. It is achaic, anachronistic, and atavivistic to fight for a kingdom that is retained by the goodwill of the people in the name of bulkanization. There is nothing to bulkanize in the kingdom as it has remained intact and enduring since the creation of the seven local government councils in Edo south.
Does it not occur to these critics and agents of precambrian thinking that their achaic and untutored ideas and retrogressive views are inhibiting development in the kingdom. Iguobazuwa, Abudu, Okada, Ehor and Idogbo have been local government headquarters for decades but none of them bear semblance of a modern day administrative domain. Is there anyone of them that look like Uromi or Ekpoma or Auchi in terms of development. In spite of the presence of a university in Okada, it hasn't stripe it of the garb of a typical village. Iguobazuwa, Ehor, Abudu remained undeveloped today due to the unprogressive nature of the kingdom defenders.
The Benin Traditional Council has been in existence since the seventies and it has not significantly impacted on the life of the ordinary Benin man and women due to its conservative nature. Now that the able and diligent governor has implemented the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Law of 1979, to its letter, some unprogressive elements are poised to truncate the noble effort. Returning to the old way of doing things is not only retrogressive but also unprogressivie. Any traditional system that is not dynamic, responsive, and bears no significant impact on the life of the ordinary Benin man and women, can not be useful to anyone in the 21st century.
More than ten years ago, the Ijaws in Edo South installed 5 traditional Rulers in their communities but none of these critics have been able to do anything about the situation. They are also aware that the Ijaws have driven virtually all Benin people from their villages bordering their communities and claimig same, yet the kingdom defenders have been silent.
To begin to refer to people in the modern day era as slaves and rebels seem uncultured, intellectually lazy , and smack of arrogance on the part of these Benin irredentists.
The creation of traditional councils in Edo south does not in any way infridge on the right and authority of the Benin monarch, rather it has strengthened the position of Oba of Benin as the foremost traditional Ruler in Edo south in particular, and Edo state in general. Now that the governor has revived the laws as espoused in the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Law to use traditional Rulers and Chiefs as agents of grassroots development, all hands must be on deck to move Edo south forward. We cannot continue to propagate achaic, anachronistic, and atavivistic ideas in modern society.


Eguaogie Edoimioya