The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, has said Nigerians should not change leadership merely for the sake of change and that President Bola Tinubu should be allowed to finish work that the monarch described as going well.

He spoke on Tuesday at the Benin Palace when the APC Presidential Campaign Council, led by Abdulaziz Yari, visited to seek royal blessings for Tinubu’s 2027 bid.

Oba Ewuare II said the Benin throne is not partisan and that he does not belong to one party or another. He also said that if the head is doing well there is no need to change it for change’s sake, prayed for a renewed mandate, and asked that his good wishes be conveyed to the president.

Yari said the delegation had come for prayers and support for Tinubu’s re-election and cited government figures on growth, inflation and the foreign-exchange market.

Traditional rulers often receive campaign teams and speak in the language of peace and continuity. The Oba’s words stop short of a party membership card and still amount to a public preference for a second Tinubu term. Opposition campaigns will treat it as palace politics.

The palace will treat it as advice against restless change. Voters in Edo and beyond are not bound by either reading.