Oba of Benin Warns Politicians Against Do-or-Die Contest

Benin monarch, Oba Ewuare II, has charged politicians to play the game by its rules and avoid a do-or-die politics.

He said that God and the ancestors were against those who acquire political power through bloodshed.

The eminent monarch gave the charge yesterday during his meeting with the chairmen and members of the various political parties and the Edo State Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs in Benin City.

Oba Ewuare said that power belongs and comes from God and He decides who to bequeath it to, stressing that, that should be the reason politicians must learn to put their trust in Him and see politics as a game where there must be a winner and a loser.

According to him, “it must be realized at this point that no one has power of his own. Besides, it is God Almighty the great geometrician of the universe that gives power to anyone, be it political power or spiritual power.

“So, it will be against God’s wish if anyone tries to achieve political power through the spilling of human blood or killing innocent citizens.

“The Edo State Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs condemned such act in its entirety,” he said.

The royal father noted that while it is customary that there must be a winner and a loser in an election, the winner must learn to be magnanimous in victory while the loser must be gallant enough to accept defeat in order to strategise his way to victory in the subsequent election.

The Oba therefore advised politicians to stop stockpiling arms and recruiting youths as political thugs with the sole aim of distorting the peace and tranquility being enjoyed in the country.