The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II yesterday hosted two governorship aspirants, Kenneth Imansuangbon of the Labour Party (LP) and Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The duo were at the palace to inform the royal father and his chiefs of their intention to contest the September 21, 2024 governorship poll in the South-South state.
The monarch, who received the governorship hopeful in his palace insisted that the next governor of the state must have respect for the traditional institution, warning that those undermining seat of authority would receive the wrath of God and the ancestors.
Addresing Imansuangbon and his supporters, the monarch said: “The Riceman, how many bags of rice did you bring for us? I ought to have said how many trailers, not bags of rice. I hope you brought many trailers of rice to the palace. You are not called Riceman for nothing.
“I thought you were in PDP, and now in LP. All the chiefs have heard you, we welcome you. Members of the royal family are all here. Thank you very much for your encomiums, remarks and prayers.
“We have been praying for you. I have mandated the chiefs to continue to pray for you. We have to pray to God Almighty and our ancestors to protect you and keep you out of way. The Benin throne remains non-partisan. All of you that are aspiring are all children of this throne. We cannot take one and leave the other.
“God will give to us the right governor in Edo State in 2024. It is God Almighty that can see everything beyond us, and the minds of the people. Even if God brings somebody that may be giving the people challenges, maybe there is a reason. God may do so for the people to be wiser, for the kingdom to be stronger, and so on and so forth. You know what I mean.
“Thank you very much for coming to tell us that you have moved from PDP to LP. We will be praying. We have our own spiritual quarters that we pray through, to God Almighty. We will endeavour to pray silently and quietly to God to give us the man that will truly and surely respect the people, and their wishes, look after the masses, put food on the table of the masses, make the masses happy, and respect the traditional institution.
“Anybody that God has put in authority is by the will of God, and anybody that wishes to undermine the person that God has put in the seat of authority shall experience God’s anger.”
He also told Osunbor that the Benin throne remained non-partisan, saying that he, the chiefs and the royal family would be praying for him and his supporters.
The royal father said: “We have mandated the chiefs to pray for you (Osunbor). We will keep praying for you quietly, when we are in certain quarters of prayer. We will pray for you and your people not to come into harmsway, as you campaign. You will campaign in good health. We hope that everything will be well.
“We have taken note of your commitment to respect the royal/traditional institution, development of Edo State and others. We pray that when you are campaigning, you will equally remember to assure the people all you have said here. I wish you well.”
Imansuangbon, who hails from Edo Central Senatorial District, stated that he was aspiring to be governor to ensure good governance and make dividends of democracy available to all in Edo.
He said: “I have just got the prayers and the support of His Royal Majesty (Oba of Benin), for me to become the governor of Edo State in 2024. By the grace of God, on November 12 next year, I will take over from Godwin Obaseki as the governor of Edo State.”
Osunbor, who also hails from the same district, restated his determination to complete what he started when was governor before his sack through the judicial process.
