By Gabriel Enogholase

BENIN—CHIEF Priest of Benin Kingdom, Chief Nosakhare Isekhure, yesterday, in Benin, Edo State, said that the Binis would vote for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan because the Benin Monarch, Oba Erediauwa, has endorsed him.

Chief Isekhure also took a swipe at a statement credited to the Esogban of Benin Kingdom, Chief David Edebiri, who reportedly said that the Binis would not vote for President Jonathan, insisting that no platform exists that speak for the entirety of the Bini people.

He said: “Anybody pretending to be speaking on behalf of the Bini people on that is just wasting his time.”

Isekhure spoke at his palace when a delegation of the President Goodluck Jonathan re-election campaign group, led by its coordinator, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, visited him.

Speaking on the endorsement of the President by the Benin monarch, the All Progressives Congress, APC, stalwart said that Oba Erediauwa did not only endorse President Jonathan but “gave the necessary impetus for Jonathan to run.

“We cannot now turn around and say a new thing. As far as I am concerned, the only candidate I know, despite my political affiliation, is Jonathan. I will vote for him, even if heaven is going to fall. I don’t need anybody’s permission to vote for him. I will give him my 110 per cent support.”

He said he had travelled across the South-South geopolitical zone and beyond in 2011 canvassing votes for President Jonathan, adding that he was set to do the same thing now because “Jonathan has done well.”

Isekhure, who was a member of the National Conference last year, said President Jonathan has started a process that will develop the country and not voting for him would be the greatest mistake anyone will make.