The Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, Oba of Benin has waded into the leadership crisis in Ehiozevbaru village in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of Edo State with an assurance that issues involved would be resolved peacefully.
Three Benin palace chiefs, Moses Iyamu, the Ezama of Benin, Oseazegioba Ikpomwonsa and Chief Uyi Esere, the Esere of Uselu, conveyed Oba Ewuare’s counsel to the protesters in his palace in Benin City.
Oba Ewuare assured that due diligence would be followed in addressing the conflict, presented in separate statements endorsed by some aggrieved indigenes in the area.
One of the elders in Ehiozevbaru village, Mr Humphrey Agbonavbare, explained that the passive resistance to excesses of Mr Sunday Ediagbonya, the self-acclaimed Odionwere (village head), reached a tipping point, after Mr Ediagbonya allegedly failed to account for the development fund of the village, running into millions of Naira which were kept in his custody.
He listed other atrocities against Ediagbonya, to include, missing ancestral staff at Ehiozevbaru elders’ porch as well as the bestial act that was reportedly committed to one of his children in the village.
Agbonavbare, the Ozukpogieva (second most senior elder) in the village, explained that those unlawful acts made most of the elders of the village sever their relationship with him.
Agbonavbare who pledged his loyalty to the Oba of Benin, also alleged that the self-acclaimed Odionwere has neither attained the position of Odionwere nor performed the necessary rites as required by Benin Customs and Tradition.
“When we (elders) summoned him to account for the money that was kept under his custody, he replied to us that it has been overtaken by events.
“We did not sell Oba of Benin land. Our loyalty is to him. We did not destroy houses or economic crops…Sunday Ediagbonya left the village voluntarily after the people abandoned him,” Agbonavbare added.
In his response, the embattled self-acclaimed Odionwere, Ediagbonya, accused some disgruntled elements in the village of being responsible for his travails, adding that his suspension was done through a paltry deception to usurp a constituted authority.
Another elder in the village, Mr Henry Osaigbovo, highlighted the developmental strides in Ehiozevbaru village to include electricity and water supply within a short period the self-acclaimed Odionwere was shoved aside.
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