Oba of Benin council bill opposition intensifies as Ogbakha-Edo demands withdrawal of proposed law favoring Ooni, Sultan as permanent council co-chairs

Oba of Benin council bill opposition is gaining momentum as a prominent Edo group, Ogbakha-Edo, on Friday called for the immediate withdrawal of a proposed bill that would make the Ooni of Ife and Sultan of Sokoto permanent co-chairmen of the Nigerian Council of Traditional Rulers.

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In a strongly worded statement signed by Prof. Sam Guobadia (Chairman) and Dr. Andrew Osaretin Izekor (Secretary), the group rejected what it described as a blatant attempt to diminish the authority and stature of the Oba of Benin, one of Nigeria’s most revered monarchs.

“We reject in totality any attempt to undermine or diminish the authority of the Oba of Benin,” the statement read. “This proposal is not only historically unjustifiable, it is provocative, divisive, and culturally offensive.”

Ogbakha-Edo argued that the leadership of the traditional rulers’ council should be non-permanent and rotational among all first-class traditional rulers in Nigeria to ensure fairness and cultural equity.

They denounced the bill as a product of political expediency and past protocols of convenience, insisting it would amount to institutionalizing hierarchical supremacy where none should exist.

“The Benin people, with centuries of sovereignty and cultural pride, will not accept a constitutionally enshrined system that places the Oba of Benin beneath any other monarch,” the group declared.

They emphasized that the proposed arrangement was an affront to historical justice and an insult to the revered status of the Benin throne.

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The group warned that further moves to pass the bill could ignite deeper ethnic and cultural tensions, urging the National Assembly to scrap the bill immediately in the interest of national unity and respect for Nigeria’s diverse monarchies.