Edo Guber: Okpebholo Warns Against Distracting Tinubu with Protests, Says PDP’s Criticism Reflects Fear of His Popular ‘Action Over Words’ Style

Seemingly taking up the challenge to speak for himself and tell Edo people his vision for the state if elected governor of Edo State, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Monday Okpebholo, the major challenger of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP for the September 21 governorship poll, on Tuesday spoke extensively on his programme of action, as well as on the burning national issue of nationwide hunger protests planned for August 1 to 10.
Repeatedly mocked by the PDP for his perceived inability to articulate his plan for the state because of his alleged poor communication skills, Okpebholo, a serving senator representing his Edo Central Senatorial district, proved his traducers wrong when he fielded questions from members of the state Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ on Tuesday in Benin at the secretariat of the APC.
Recall that the duo of the state commissioner for communication and orientation, Chris Osa Nehikhare, and Crusoe Osagie, special adviser to Governor Obaseki on media projects, had at a recent press conference taunted Okpebholo who they often describe as “mute”, to address Edo people in just five minutes in any language of his choice.
Nehikhare, who spoke first, said “In fact, we don’t want him to speak in English anymore, because we know he doesn’t have the capacity to; he can speak to us in his mother tongue, Esan, or pidgin. Edo people just want to hear him speak.”
Osagie, on his part, challenged Senator Okpebholo “to speak to the Edo people for just five minutes”, adding derisively, “We understand his predicament with the English Language. We will allow him to use either Pidgin English or Esan Language to speak to the people for just five minutes”.
Apparently responding to this, Okpebholo said on Tuesday that he avoided speaking carelessly so that he would not lie to the electorate but preferred to communicate with Edo residents through his manifesto. He said Governor Godwin Obaseki and his “drowning allies” were criticising him out of frustration and fear of his popularity in view of his style of “less talk, more actions.”
Kicking against the planned nationwide protest, Senator Okpebholo said what President Bola Tinubu needed was the support of all stakeholders rather than being distracted with protests, adding that the president had been promoting good governance, addressing the concerns of Nigerians both at home and abroad, and advancing the country in just over one year in office.
He said “The protest they are planning for August 1 is not necessary. Is it President Tinubu that is just one year in office that they are blaming for what is happening? There is a global economic challenge that is not peculiar to Nigeria and some people, including Governor Obaseki, want it for political reasons which I am sure will all fail.”
While acknowledging that Nigerians have a right to protest, he feared that such actions could result in greater harm than the October 2020 #EndSARS protests, which led to the death of many innocent people, and the destruction of valuable property across Nigeria.
He therefore urged Nigerians, especially the youth, not to allow themselves to be manipulated by those who oppose democracy, and cautioned certain unnamed “disgruntled politicians”, particularly from opposition parties, who he claimed, are uncomfortable with the progress made by President Tinubu’s administration, to stop inciting unrest and sponsoring poorly timed protests which could lead to the destruction of national assets, development projects, and property belonging to individuals, organisations, and the government.
Accompanied by Prince Kassim Afegbua, a governorship aspirant, and former Commissioner for Information in Edo State; Prince Peter Uwadiae-Igbinigie, the state’s Publicity Secretary and a lawyer; and many other party leaders, Okpebholo, popularly called Akpakomiza, Okpebholo, who spoke fluently while articulating his views and programmes, said Edo State urgently needed a ‘panel beater’, a veiled reference to his denigratory description by the opposition, to fix the state’s deplorable and broken-down infrastructures, and restore it to its lost glory.
According to him, he did not require outlandish grammar to tackle insecurity, provide functional health care, fix dilapidated roads, respect traditional institution and revamp the collapsed educational system, adding that under his watch, a state of emergency would be immediately declared on insecurity. He said he did not need a manifesto to understand how to deal with the hydra-headed problems and suffering inflicted on the state by the Obaseki-led PDP government.
Challenging Obaseki to give account of the huge monthly allocation, security vote, and Internally Generated Revenue, (IGR) the state had received in the almost eight years of his administration, Okpebholo said “If elected by the special grace of God come September 21st, my job is to do things differently and restore Edo State to its lost glory. Therefore, we need a courageous leader that will do things rightly for the benefit of Edo people. Today, Edo State is receiving ₦11 billion in monthly allocation, with the debt profile put at ₦135 billion thereby mortgaging the future of our children”.
Regretting that serious infrastructure development stopped with the Adams Oshiomhole administration, Okpebholo promised that as governor, he would go back to development of critical infrastructure which he said is the quickest way to bring development to the people.
According to him, “At this point what Edo really needs is a panel beater. I’m here to panel beat the state where there will be no thuggery; where Bendel brewery will work; where our roads will be fixed, where our children will have a functional educational system with teachers in our classrooms. I’m coming as a servant leader to the people where I will introduce practical governance and govern with empathy and love for the people”.
Vowing to turn the heat on criminal elements in the state, Senator Okpebholo said “When we win by the grace of God, we will go after them; they will relocate from this state. We did it before in Edo Central through ‘atanakpa’ even before I became a senator, and the entire Edo Central has been peaceful until now, and we have to check the reason for that now.
“My records are there to speak for me, and all these we will replicate in the entire state. As we speak, I am doing an “operation light up” Edo Central with 3,000 streetlights to be mounted. We are still rebuilding schools; not less then 49 boreholes have been sunk even before I became a senator”.
Describing as embarrassing a situation whereby Edo Line Transport Service, and Bendel Brewery, which were the pride of the state, with both capable of employing thousands of Edo people had been left unattended to by the Obaseki administration, the APC flagbearer said, “What we hear are rhetoric. Anything that will give jobs to our people, particularly youths, they will not bother about it. Our youths are being used for evil because they are jobless; the people are hungry because there are no jobs”.
He recalled that “When Comrade Oshiomhole was governor, our monthly allocation from the federation account was not more than ₦3.5 billion at its peak; but last month, the allocation that came to this state was over ₦11 billion, yet the debt profile of Edo State is over ₦500 billion naira in the same period that the IGR has increased. So, what have they done with this money? These are questions Edo people should ask them. The money that comes to the state, they take them outside the state. The money we have in circulation are money from our Diaspora brothers and sisters that they send to their family members here. All these we will change because Edo people’s money must be used for the people of Edo State, and in Edo State.”
Okpebholo also promised to “respect the traditional institution in Edo State, and continue to hold in high esteem, the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, who is currently being treated with disdain by some persons in Edo State. I have the capacity and experience to govern Edo State from November 12, 2024, by God’s grace, and the massive support of Edo electorate. I will not disappoint Edo residents, but perform excellently, in order to put my detractors to shame. I am embarking on many infrastructural projects in Edo Central Senatorial District, and empowering numerous Edo residents. I will do more, when, not if, elected governor of Edo State.
“There is nothing to write home about the almost eight years of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP’s) administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki. Edo State government has failed Edo people. The anointed son of Obaseki, Asue Ighodalo, the governorship candidate of the crisis-ridden PDP in Edo State, cannot do better than Obaseki, his business associate, as Ighodalo has been the administration’s chief economic adviser in almost eight years, without any legacy development project on the ground.
“Obaseki places emphasis on numerous Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) and propaganda, without being able to justify the huge allocations and increasing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), while I am coming as a servant, to introduce practical governance, focus on infrastructural projects and empowerment of Edo residents in the 18 local government areas, when not if elected. Edo residents will see real developments in all sectors.”
Upbraiding Ighodalo for having allegedly isolated himself from his people until recently when he indicated interest to contest for governorship.
In his words, “I never knew Obaseki’s godson, Asue, who claimed to have come from my Senatorial District (Edo Central). I only got to know of him when someone drew my attention that the chairman of a bank donated ₦100,000 to Esan security architecture. I raised the bar of the donations and even donated vehicles for the local vigilantes when I discovered that what was donated was not enough. So, find out where these people have been?”
Earlier, Afegbua, the Media Consultant to the Edo State APC Governorship Campaign Council, said Edo State needed an empathic governor with emotional intelligence, adding that Okpebholo’s humility and candour were his selling points, “and He has the anointing of God”.
Afegbua had earlier enumerated some of the candidate’s interventionist projects to include, the provision of transformers, building of classrooms, provision of security vehicles to Edo Central, provision of scholarship, and the provision of boreholes to many communities, among others.