A MEMO TO THE FORUM OF BENIN ELITES

Dear Prof,
I use this opportunity to thank you for inviting me to be part of this laudable Forum/Movement and especially  to be in the midst of eminent and accomplished sons and daughters of Benin that have made their enviable marks in their various chosen fields.

I am sending this message to you and must state that the opinions expressed here are personal, based on my political experience, haven served in various national committees/assignments for my Party in recent times.
The political history of our country should not be lost on us all, as we go into formation of this forum as a pressure group for our people.

In the 50's and the first Republic, Parties were formed along regional lines.The reason we had AG (West), NPC (North) and NCNC (East). They were headed by regional Leaders - Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello and Nnamdi Azikiwe.  They championed the interest of their people.
As a result of our disenchantment with the AG Western region, the Midwest Region was created.
We had political leadership in Humphrey Omo-Osagie championing the Benin agenda using the Otu Edo Movement within the dominant NCNC party to demand for the rights in political, economic and infrastructural developments for the Benins.
The fact cannot be controverted that the Benins got a fair share of our agitations at the time, with the royal blessings of Oba Akenzua of blessed memory.
What do we have now? This is the question and puzzle this Forum should try and find solutions to.

When the third Republic was being midwifed, I am informed that the then Chief of General Staff (CGS), Admiral Mike Akhigbe, invited the Edo political three musketeers - Gen. Ogbemudia, Chief Anenih and Chief Igbinedion to be at the fore front of the political party formation in the State.
This gave rise to the birth of PDP as a political party in the State. However, two political leaders, decided to go for the Governorship position and the financial benefits in politics, while the third decided to go for the political leadership of the Party at both state and national levels. What do we have now? PDP is being led by a leader from a minority group and using the position for political and economic empowerment/development of his people. Why do we complain?

In an attempt to break away from the PDP political leadership in 2007, our own son Lucky Igbinedion, drafted his political cronies to form a party that he, up till the present time, is struggling to reclaim. The formation of the Party was a half measure effort. When our sons were in the fore front as governorship candidates in the same Party, the incumbent Governor was drafted into the Party to upstage our sons.
The incumbent Governor, at the early stage of his administration and up till not too long ago, will always stress the fact that, he was voted into office by the Benins (Edo South). The leadership of our son's Party is now firmly in the grip of another ethnic minority group.
An objective research/analysis of the political situation in the State is that, political and economic empowerment of this ethnic minority group are being executed by the same person we, the Benins installed as Governor, while offering to some us (Benins) mere political patronages as he deems fit under the table.
The vital question to be asked here is, if  our political leadership in this present political dispensation has and will be in a position to properly represent us and negotiate from a position of advantage for us Benins. The answer, I must confess, is NO.
The proliferation of pressure groups, as it is happening today in Edo South, will not yield the type of result we should look forward to.
In political negotiations and pressure group formation, the purpose is to lay all cards on the table and negotiate and not being offered patronages under the table. The group with the political leadership and advantage will always triumph and not the group with mere size and population.

We should accept our political naivety and short sightedness and embrace the basic fact that, without an identifiable political party platform and structure to operate with, our political, economic empowerment and emancipation will remain a mirage.
We should also accept the fact that, without political empowerment and support to our sons and daughters in politics, economic empowerment of our people cannot be enhanced.. We will therefore continue to accept mere political crumbs under the magnanimity of the political minority groups that are the leaders of the dominant political parties.

The tasks before this forum are to:-
(i)   ascertain if we can take leadership of one of the existing dominant political party structure in the state and how to go about it.
(ii)  if item (i) is not feasible, the forum should identify an existing political party to operate with and take control and leadership of the party.
(iii) identify those in the forum that are politically inclined and form a political committee or group within the forum to chart the way forward to achieving (ii) above as a political agenda.
(iv) set up a finance committee to ensure funds are available to the forum to propagate the agenda of the forum and our people.
(v)  set up an economic committee to advance our economic agenda for our people.
(vi) set up a strategy/development committee to promote our culture at home and in the diaspora and give publicity to our activities.
The list of committees is not exhaustive, but these are personal suggestions.

In conclusion, I am not inviting those who are apolitical to come into politics, but stating that one cannot remain apolitical and pursue an agenda for our people successfully.
Secondly, the seeming failure of our political leadership may have prompted the coming together of this group. There are other political pressure groups set up by our sons and daughters presently. However, most of these groups have been infiltrated by the dominant parties controlled by other ethnic minority groups at inception, through funding. The forum should avoid this sort of situation at inception and avoid inclination or leaning to a political party for now.
Thirdly, we should accept the basic fact that, without the Benins in political leadership of any political party, our quest for political and economic empowerment and emancipation will not be fully achieved.

I thank you for your efforts and my apologies for not being present at this first meeting of this forum.

My warm regards and happy deliberations.
Eddy Ogunbor.

 N/B:- This memo was written to a Forum, yet to be established in Benin City, in January 2012, during its innaugural meeting. I was invited to the meeting as a prospective member. However, I was unavoidably absent due to other engagements at the time, outside Benin. This formed my thoughts in proposing some areas the Forum should focus on as a pressure group for our poeple, the Benins.