Oba Erediauwa I, Benin traditional ruler, ordered Minister of State for Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi, out of his palace today, saying he could not come in until the infamous Benin-Ore road was fixed. Not even the presence of the leaders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), could save the minister from the anger of the traditional ruler.
Mr. Ogiemwonyi had paid a visit to the palace immediately after his appointment as minister and had promised to take urgent steps to fix the gully-ridden road. The minister went with several candidates of the PDP in the forthcoming general elections to the palace to seek the oba’s royal blessing for their aspirations.
Oba Erediauwa said that the road was strategic to the economic development of the country and had remained dilapidated even when one of his subjects was now a minister in the Works Ministry. According to a palace source, as soon as the minister was introduced to the king, he was “ordered out of the palace for feeding the palace and citizens of the state with lies over the state of the road.”
The king was angered by the minister who he said had come into Benin by air, but subjected motorists to pain on the Benin-Ore road. According to the source, the traditional ruler said to Mr. Ogiemwonyi: “Don’t step your feet into this palace until your promise to Nigerians and Edo state people in particular is fulfilled.”
Mr. Ogiemwonyi was saved from further embarrassment when one of the palace chiefs in the rank of Uzama, (kingmaker), asked that the minister be allowed to stay with other guests at the ceremony.
The minister, on his part, assured the monarch that steps would be taken to ensure that the Benin-Ore-Lagos road was fully rehabilitated, adding that the Benin axis of the road was now better than it used to be.
During a phone interview, Mr. Ogiemwonyi said that Oba Erediauwa was just joking. A palace chief who did not want his name in print, however, viewed the matter differently. He described the traditional ruler as a man of few words, who would not say something if he did not really mean it.
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I love what the Oba did to the minister to show that even the high and the might are angry.
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