By Ayodele Oni
“Tradition not bargaining chips for political expediency”
Indications have emerged that despite opposition and criticism which trailed the idea of the installation of Iyaloja General Title in Benin City, Edo State, Josphine Isi Ibhaguezejele, has been inaugurated.
The Palace of the Oba of Benin, Ewuare 11, and prominent Benin Indigenes, including market women, had kicked against the Iyaloja title to superintend over all markets in Edo State by President Bola Tinubu’s first daughter, Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo.
Report indicate that the President’s daughter has inaugurated Ibhaguezejele who had earlier been rejected not just by the Palace but by traders as well.
The installation, which reportedly took place at the Edo State Government House on Thursday, and attended by the Director, office of the First Lady, Edo State, Mrs. Edesili Anani, implied that it had the blessing of Governor Monday Okpebholo.
This may likely put the Governor on a collision course with the Palace like his predecessor, Godwin Obaseki.
It was gathered that the move towards the inauguration of Iyaloja General in Edo State began in 2024 when President Tinubu’s daughter wrote a letter to the Benin Monarch to that effect.
The letter, written by Chief (Mrs) Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the Iyaloja-General of Nigeria and first daughter of President Bola Tinubu, has surfaced online, deepening the controversy over the installation of a new market leader in Edo State.
The letter, dated April 30, 2024, and acknowledged by the Benin Traditional Council on May 1, was addressed to His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II.
In the letter, Tinubu-Ojo stated: “With greatest sense of responsibility and utmost regards to our Royal Father, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo Oba Ewuare II, the Oba of Benin, I humbly write to introduce Pastor Mrs. Josephine Isi Ibhaguezejele as the Edo State Iyeki-Elect.”
“With the development, it is her responsibility to see to the day-to-day affairs of the traders in the State (Edo State).
“Your Majesty, I humbly request that you give your daughter every necessary backing to succeed in this great and noble assignment as I look forward to your fatherly blessing for her to be fruitful in her newly assigned responsibilities.”
Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), sensing the involvement of Governor Okpebholo in the process, has advised him to tender an apology to the Benin Monarch.
In a press statement, signed by the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Dan Osa-Ogbegie, the party demanded an “explicit apology to the Oba of Benin and to the good people of Edo State from the office of the Governor and from any official involved in organising the event.”
It called for an independent review of the role of the First Lady’s Office and Government House protocol “in staging events affecting Benin cultural institutions”, with findings to be made public.
PDP also called for a meeting between the Palace and the State Government to reaffirm the Palace’s custodial role over native customs and market institutions and a formal undertaking that no future inauguration, appointment, or public recognition of market leaders would take place without prior consultation and confirmation by the Palace, as required by custom.
“No one individual or government, has the right to usurp the custodial functions of the Oba. Any attempt to create parallel or “general” market leadership structures that undermine the Palace-confirmed order will be resisted by Edo people at home and in the Diaspora.
“Governor Okpebholo and his appointees must explain themselves. The people of Edo deserve to know who authorised or facilitated the event in Government House, and under whose instruction the Palace was disrespected,” Ogbegie stated.
The PDP image maker stated clearly that “Edo is not for sale. Our traditions are not bargaining chips for political expediency or a stage for partisan showmanship. They violated the dignity of the Oba Palace and the people it represents,” Ogbegie said.
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