THE title of this article is not original. It was culled from an article written by my friend, Prince Tony Momoh, which was published recently in some newspapers.
First, some people were opposed to the creation of Edo State. The Omo n’Oba had to undertake a two-day tour of five of the eight local government areas: Agbazilo, Akoko-Edo, Etsako, Okpebho and Owan to defuse the opposition. Practically all of them said that their "Sons in Benin" gave them the impression that by initiating the move to demand for the creation of Edo State, the Oba of Benin was trying to resuscitate the old Benin Empire. Ten years later, the state was created but an uneasy peace dwelt in it. Some people were working to balkanise the new state. Tony, an accomplished journalist, lawyer and former Minister of Information, as one of the arrow-heads of Afenmesan State, vigorously pursued its cause at the Mbanefo Panel. Afenmesan State was to break away from Edo State and, if need be, affiliate or merge with Kwara or Kogi State. Afenmesan State was not created but its proponents did not give up. They seized every opportunity since to drive home their demand.
Another opportunity to vent their spleen presented itself in May 2001 when Governor lgbinedion inaugurated the reconstituted Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs. Using the governor’s reference to the Omo n’Oba as "Paramount Ruler in Edo State", as an excuse, Tony Momoh opened his fangs. He accused the governor of delivering "a slap in the face of the law" and that by the statement, the governor had given notice to the people (of Edo State) that the time was up for the (culture) of the state to be sorted out "so that its continued relevance can be ascertained.’
He said: "Once upon a time, there was a debate on who heads the Council", adding, tongue in cheek, "I have never doubted that the person to head that Council should be the Omo n’Oba because of the fact, which many deny, that he is the cultural heed of the Edo people. Their reasons have been explained in treatises but I am not persuaded." (Emphasis mine).
Tony is interested in the history of Benin (city), but his interest does not seem to go beyond the period of the dispersal of citizens from the homestead.
All this digression is only to situate Tony’s true position vis avis unity in Edo State and to understand the motive behind his writings about Benin. Our interest now is in his recently syndicated article on the governorship election in Edo State in 2007 in which he made the following main points:
That anyone who dares to express the Benin man’s interest in contesting the gubernatorial election in 2007 challenges the unity of Edo State.
That he was upset by the campaign seeking to permanently locate the office of the Governor in Edo South "to the permanent exclusion of Esan and Afenmai people" and advised that it be discouraged so as not to "divide Edoland into two."
That the scheme to present the case now being made (that is, to make Edo South permanently retain the governorship of the State), was hatched in 1991. By the scheme, enumeration materials were stored up in Benin and not made available to towns and villages in Esan and Afenmai. That they now say Afenmai accounts for only 23 per cent of the population, Esan 12 per cent and Benin 65 per cent... "but they refuse to say that Afenmai and Esan account for 32 per cent of the population of Benin City which is the main centre of concentration of the people in Edo South".
That the figures they released for Edo State showed that Benin had risen from 459,907 to 1,250,387, while Afenmai dropped from 741,931 to 550,294 and Esan from 625,423 to 398,103.
Tony said "some people deliberately reduced Edo population because of internal plan to dominate".
Who are they and who did they plan to dominate?
Since Tony’s article, however, there has been a spate of press statements by individuals and groups of Edo Central and Northern origin making a passionate appeal for unity and peace. As far as the writers are concerned, the only way to achieve unity and peace in Edo State is for Edo South to "concede" the governorship position to Edo Central and Edo North in 2007.
The Edo North PDP leaders held a meeting at the residence of Alhaji Umoru on October 23, 2004.
Part of the communique issued after the meeting reads:
"As committed and loyal PDP Party Leaders, the meeting, after re-affirming it’s acceptance ai~ allegiance to the supremacy of the party resolved to support zoning policy by the party as it relates to Edo State Governorship position 2007. This we believe is a sure way to promote unity, equity, justice and fair play in the State." (Emphasis mine).
In order to conform with constitutional demands and for the sake of equity, the following sharing formula may be considered in the allocation of state constituencies: Edo South, with 58 per cent population, 16; Edo Central with 17 per cent, 6 and Edo North with 25 per cent, 8. Similarly, federal constituencies in the State should be reviewed to reflect the population on ground. Until that is done, it will not be in the interest of Edo South to abdicate its God-given right of population.One of the beautiful aspects of the American-type presidential system of government which we mimmick is that members of the Administration answer individually for their misconduct. The failure or weakness of a President (or governor) does not bring an Administration down.
Recall the cases of President Nixon and Governor Balarabe Musa. Each faced impeachment alone. The buck ends on the table of the chief executive and so does the praise or blame. It is unlike the British-type parliamentary system. In that system, the failure or weakness of the Prime Minister or a senior minister would bring the government down. Recall the case of Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. His government was brought down by the so-called Profumo Affair, the excesses of one of his cabinet ministers, John Prof umo.
The meaning of this is, in our presidential system the weakness or failure of the Chief Executive is not transferable to his lieutenants. In any case, lze-lyamu has first to declare his intention to contest the governorship election. It will be up to his supporters after that to see him through his party’s primaries. If he is successful, he becomes his party’s responsibility and it is the party that will "package" and "sell" him to the electorate of Edo State to whom he must make himself acceptable. The election of the governor is not a mailer for one senatorial district or an ethnic group.
Those who are calling on Edo South to "concede" the office are, infact, asking the Edo South electorate to vote en masse for their candidate or not to participate at all in the electoral process. As has been said, Edo South will not make the sacrifice, referred to as "concession", unless they know what they are getting for it. The position of deputy governor is not good enough for Edo South, if it does not get the appropriate state and federal constituencies due to it, in accordance with its population.
It should said loud and clear that no Benin man or woman has been mandated to negotiate a so-called Benin Agenda that does not give priority attention to correcting the imbalance in constituency allocation. No one is authorised to trade off Benin assets for personal gains. Anyone who does so is enemy of the people of Benin. And any party that seeks to disenfranchise the people of Benin does not deserve the support of Benin.
