Reforms: Benin monarch gets commendation

By Osaigbovo Iuobaro, Benin

Elders of Oke-Oroma have commended the Benin monarch, Oba Ewuare for the various traditional reforms he has initiated including a law to prohibit forcible entry and illegal occupation.
A statement by Mr. Idusuyi Emokpae, a member of Oke-Oroma village, intervening in a protracted boundary dispute between Oke-Oroma village and the people of Amagba Community whose lifestyle had been cushioned by privilege.
Oba Ewuare II ascended the throne of his forebear on October 20, 2016.
Idusuyi said they decide to seek salvation on a wider stage (the Oba of Benin and the government) to check the excesses of unprogressive elements in their neighborhood that are moving against justice and peace.
He recalled the positive role and contribution of the palace authorities who had sent emissaries to the village on a fact finding mission with a mandate to resolve the long, often tedious land dispute struggle by aborigines and indigenes which have set many residents on edge.
He also gave a graphic detail of how the crises started, drifted and led to blood-letting which displaced several others.
He alleged complicity by some members of outlawed Amagba Community Development Association (CDA) who were yet to embrace enduring peace in the past months.
The statement reads in part: We “commend the Benin monarch, Oba Ewuare II, for the various traditional reforms he has done within a short space since he ascended the throne of his forebear on October 20, 2018”, and for initiating “a law to prohibit forcible entry and illegal occupation”.
According him, in order to check the alleged incessant harassment and unlawful arrest of Oke-Oroma residents, forcible entry and malicious damages of property, as well as authorised sale of Oke-Oroma ancestral land, the Council of elders of Oke-Oroma, resolved to embrace alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve the crises.