Oba of Benin warns politicians

Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare has warned politicians to avoid setting Edo State on fire. At a peace meeting he initiated for critical stakeholders, the monarch said,

“The warning is especially for the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)”.

In attendance at the meeting were the governorship candidates of the two political parties – APC and PDP, and two former governors of the state, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and Mr Adams Oshiomhole.⁣
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Oba Ewaure said that he was worried about the violence across the state over the polls, and urged politicians to learn to conduct themselves in a peaceful manner.⁣
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While noting that election was not a do or die affair, he advised politicians to note that they had only Edo to call their own state and must, thus, do everything to protect it from disintegration.⁣
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He regretted that Edo had not only been in the news for the wrong reasons, but that the governorship election had pitted the people against themselves.⁣
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“We are doing our bit internally; traditional prayers are being offered so that there will be peace during the election.⁣
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I want to appeal to politicians to control the youths. I want the politicians to assure us that there will be peace. You do not kill yourselves over an office.⁣
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This is the worst scenario of all the politics that we have seen in Edo. Edo politics have been in the news for quite sometime now for all the wrong reasons.⁣
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I have had sleepless nights over this. My mind is burning up over this violence and shooting all over the state. Let the shooting stop and let there be peace and quiet in the state.⁣
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Don’t kill yourselves over an office. Don’t kill yourselves over votes. Let us have the working relationship that President Muhammadu Buhari had with Goodluck Jonathan; It is not a do or die affair.”