1st October, 2014
Jethro Ibileke/Benin
The Senate President, Mr. David Mark, has been given a seven-day ultimatum to tender unreserved apology to Edo people for allegedly “denigrating the Benin customs.”
The state Chairman of the Conference of Registered Political Parties, CRPP, Dr. Samson Isibor, who gave the ultimatum during the presentation of awards to distinguished elected officials and political appointees in the state, chided Mark for wearing Benin traditional coral beads on English attires.
He recalled that the Senate President had at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) unity rally held in Benin last weekend, worn a traditional coral beads on the white shirt and black pair of trousers he wore, saying that the combination was “embarrassing and insulting to the customs and tradition of Benin Kingdom.”
Commenting on the awards, Dr. Isibor noted that it was to make a “statement that opposition political parties are not for criticisms and opposing every policy or actions of the government, but to also commend and give credence to any good work done that has positive bearing on the masses.”
Also speaking at the ceremony, a recipient of the award and Secretary to Edo state government, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, tasked the federal government on the protection of pipeline vandalism, rather than resorting to voodoo tactics to rip off states.
“It is the duty of federal government to lay claims to all minerals below and above the soil of Nigeria to protect the pipelines.
But they punish the state and make heavy deductions from their monthly allocations thereby trying to distort development planning and delivery of good governance,” Ihonvbere said.