Immediate past Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, has felicitated His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II, the Oba of Benin, the people of the Great Benin Kingdom and her affiliate groups, on this year’s celebration of the Igue Festival.
In a press statement, which was made available to the press and signed by Prince Agba himself, the immediate past Minister, who is a son to a departed Oliola (king) of Uzanu in Etsako East Local Government of Edo state, a community which traces her ancestry to Benin, also eulogized the revered Benin Monarch for his relentless efforts at sustaining the age-long, globally-acknowledged Igue Festival and other priceless traditions and relics of arts and culture, for which the Edo people are well-known and respected across the globe.
While he saw the Igue Festival as a period of a bountiful harvest, love-sharing, peace, and thanksgiving to ‘Osalobua’, the Almighty God, and to the Edo Ancestors, Prince Agba called on all Edo people, no matter their differences and inclinations, to always join the Oba of Benin and traditional rulers of the state, to work for peace, unity, and progress of the state.
Prince Agba also thanked the Royal Father for the peace, stability, and progress, that his reign had ushered to the Benin Kingdom and the entire state, as he prayed to the Almighty God and the Edo Ancestors to grant the Monarch long and eventful reign on the throne.
