THE endorsement of Governor Adams Oshiomhole as the Bini candidate by the Palace of the Oba of Benin, last week, must have left a pill, too bitter to swallow, in the mouth of the PDP candidate, Charles Airhiavbere and his supporters because it has completely rubbished the plans of his leader, Chief Tony Anenih and Mr Dan Orbih, the state party chairman who influenced his emergence as the PDP flagbearer.

What is baffling is that the handwriting had been on the wall for a long time, but Anenih, Orbih, Airhiavbere and others in the PDP had ignored it.

Last year, during a thank you visit to the Royal Majesty after the victory of the ACN candidates in the National Assembly election of Saturday, April 9, the royal father had said: “In 2012 when you go for re-election, all these your people will make sure that you come back again.

“They must all work together to bring you in again. Thank you your excellency for what you are doing in Benin City and for this ‘thank you’ visit”.

Again, the royal father, who rarely speaks but whose words carry a lot of weight in the country and outside the country had, during another visit to him by ACN stalwarts who paid him a courtesy visit, told the party delegation that: “You are all praying for Oshiomhole to come back in 2012.  We are also hoping that he comes back and I and my chiefs say you will come back and complete unfinished projects”.

However, the Oba is not alone in his support for Oshiomhole, many other royal fathers across the state had at one time or the other thrown their support behind the Comrade- Governor.

Royal fathers normally prefer to speak in parables, but this time, they chose to speak plainly so that their message will not be confused by those who may find their parables too difficult to decipher. From Edo South to Edo Central to Edo North, the royal fathers’ message is the same: “We want Oshiomhole to return in 2012 to complete the good works he has begun”.

The Eidenojie of Uromi, Zaiki Anslem Ehizojie minced no words too when he openly declared support for Oshiomhole. Speaking during one of the campaign visits to his palace, he said: “Your Excellency, I refer to you as an accomplished son of Uromi.

We are very proud of you, we are very proud of your developmental efforts. I pray for you always that God in his infinite mercies will continue to protect and guide you so that you will deliver a total dividend of democracy.

“When you visited me in 2007 for campaign and I passionately appealed to you that when you eventually become Governor you should not forget Uromi and you should not say Uromi has been in the mainstream of Nigerian politics, for that reason you won’t bother yourself about them.

I am very sure that Uromi people all over the world are proud of the projects that you have attracted to Uromiland. Your Excellency, if someone says you have not put gold on the streets of Uromi, he should not be taken seriously, that person should be ignored. Because if what one government could not achieve in ten years, in only two years you are doing it, then we should thank God for giving you to Edo State. I want to assure Your Excellency that myself and the people of Uromi will continue to support you and we will vote en masse for you”.

Just as the Uromi royal father gave his unflinching endorsement, so did his brother royal father, the Onojie of Igueben who told the Governor during a visit that “we have absolute confidence in your government. Your Excellency, achievements speak loud for you.

In 2012 for your re-election, we believe that if you continue at this rate, what we are hearing and witnessing in Lagos will be a child’s play and these achievements will continue to live and speak after your tenure. So we urge you to continue in that stead. We are grateful, we are happy for the roads being constructed in our local government: The Udo-Igueben road; Ewohinmi-Igueben road; a secondary school here is going on; however, we are asking that more of such model schools be established in this local government because we are a young local government and will want to catch up with others. I tell my people that the Comrade- Governor is equal to the task of developing the Local Government because we associate our Governor with successes.

“We heard that you have awarded the contract for erosion control in Benin. We all have our children in Benin, so we are fully part of that programme and we support you because we know that if Benin is taken care of as you told us in the past, then you’ll have little to do in our local government and other local governments.  As the traditional ruler, I know that you have the support of Igueben Local Government already because your projects are already speaking for you. We thank you and pray that you’ll continue to work as you have been working.”

For the Onojie of Ekpoma, Abumere II, the message remains the same. He said: “I want to use this opportunity to thank you very much for the kind of heart you have. To get a leader is always very difficult, but when you get one you’ll know. I know several occasions that I met with you. If you will remember, I always tell you that I appreciate you because it’s very rare to get a leader like you.  I know that this success is also a contribution of the party leaders and the people that are working with you.  You are somebody who says something and does it. I will appeal to you, Nigeria is for all of us, your voice might not be loud enough but I want you to continue to talk. A lot of people are watching, they know the right thing, everybody knows the truth, but I pray that God will one day raise up people who are like you that will deliver the people from poverty. You are mentioning the things you have done  in Ekpoma, Esan West, but you did not mention everything, you just mentioned only a few of them. You don’t need to mention the transformers because you brought transformers in many places, everywhere.

“On two occasions you came here and some communities were asking for transformers and you promised them transformers and immediately it was delivered and those communities are very happy today.  The borehole you sunk, thank God that water is coming out now.

The impression they gave us was that it’s very impossible to get water in Ekpoma, but we thank God that water  is coming out and I know this will go a long way to help us. I want you to know that you are the Governor of Edo State. We will give you all the support to make you succeed because I have seen the kind of man that you are. You are somebody, what Esan call Akhuamen“.

Mr. SAMUEL EGUAIKHIDE, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Ekpoma, Edo State.