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“G-5 Governors” 2023 and Ortom’s “bottom to top” mantra

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By Tunde Olusunle

Two incidents in the not too distant past, mitigated my physical participation in open-field, free-to-air political events, notably rallies and conventions, in recent times. At a rally of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital years ago, I left the venue of the event, relatively lighter than I went. My prized mobile phone had been pinched from the pocket of my national dress I donned to the event. It was an experience I had never had. With most of us almost wholly dependent on our electronic gadgets for day-to-day functionality, I felt like an orphan having been so criminally dispossessed of my device, for 24 subsequent hours. This was the time span between the pilferage of the equipment, and its eventual replacement. The second experience occurred as I queued to access Eagle Square, Abuja for the convention of the same party in 2017. I least imagined that the wad of currency notes I supposedly secured in one of the less visible pockets of my smart dress, could be so neatly, albeit criminally accessed!

On the recent invitation of the much-misunderstood governor of Benue State, Samuel Ioraer Ortom, however, I broke my subsisting self-censorship. I honoured the flag-off of the Benue State PDP campaigns, held in Makurdi the state capital, on Monday November 7, 2022. Candidates of the PDP contesting for various positions, at all levels in the February and March 2023 polls, were to be formally presented to the PDP family in the state. My longstanding friend and brother, Tivlumun Nyitse, Chief of Staff to Ortom, was the ideal host, on behalf of his Principal.

The pre-event sensitisation was massive. Ortom’s colleagues, who have come to be known as the G-5, or the Integrity Group as they are interchangeably referred to, in contemporary political discourse, were to headline the event. Nyesom Wike, Seyi Makinde, Okezie Ikpeazu and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Rivers, Oyo, Abia and Enugu respectively, would be storming the food basket of the nation, the legend of Benue State, for the programme. They were coming to stir the Benue river, calmer now than weeks ago when its flooded banks chased the people from their homes and farmlands. The quintet have been vocal and unanimous in speaking up against issues they consider unjust and unfair, in the current structure and operations of their party, vowing never to back-down until their demands are addressed. The issues are public knowledge, and need no rehashing.

The airport at the typically sleepy Nigerian Airforce Base, Makurdi, came alive in the evening of Sunday November 6, 2022. Four private jets, each conveying Ortom’s guests, lit up the concreted face of the typically snoozing tarmac. Chief host Ortom would settle his guests in at the recently rehabilitated Aper Aku Lodge in Government House, christened after the Second Republic governor of the state. Aku is credited with several multisectoral innovations, during his shortlived four year term in office. Aper Aku Lodge is an innocuous, yet voluptuous complex with about 25 rooms, backing the Presidential Lodge within the Government House. After dinner with his guests in his own section of the Government House behemoth, Ortom led his guests on a short walk to the Banquet Hall for a reception.

Benue State’s well-known affluent culture was on display. Dances and performances from the major ethnicities in the state, the Tiv, Idoma, Igede and Agatu, featured at the event. Ortom’s August guests responded by nodding their heads to the rhythms of music and the footwork of performances, intermittently applauding the performers. Ortom proclaimed the adoption of his guests as honorary citizens of Benue State, requesting that the proclamation be recorded in relevant instruments of the government. Wike, Ikpeazu, Makinde and Ugwuanyi were subsequently robed in traditional Tiv attires, complete with ceremonial spears. They took to the dais themselves, and shuffled to the rhythms and songs.

Ortom’s guests woke up the next morning, to a tour and simultaneous commissioning of projects in the state capital and its environs. It was an opportunity for Ortom to beam to the world, some of the infrastructures he had developed for his people. “Dr,” he called me as we chatted, “I find it amusing when people accuse me of not building even a simple bathroom in all my years as governor. I think it’s because I’m media shy. My upbringing and religious inclination, also forbid my blowing my own trumpet.” Ortom continued: “Again, I’m by nature a frugal person. If I reckon that the cost of commissioning a particular project can help us build a culvert somewhere, or a borehole elsewhere, that is more important to me than the fanfare of showcasing things we’ve already put in place.” And Ortom does have a commendable collage of infrastructures to flaunt before the eyes of his August guests and constituents, variously.

They include: The 9.4 kilometre Tse Poor- Mbakya-Apir road and electricity project, named after first ever Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly Ayua Num, which was commissioned by Wike. The 7.7 kilometre Tse Poor-Mbanima-Yaikyo road and electricity facility named after Sule Abenga, the late Ter Makurdi, was commissioned by Ugwanyi, while the 3.2 kilometre NKST- Yina- George Akume road named after the charismatic Joseph Waku, a prominent Tiv leader, was commissioned by Makinde.

A two-kilometre
Kaange Akaya- Lucy Aluor- Otukpo road, christened after Wike, was commissioned by Ortom’s predecessor, Gabriel Suswam, who is now a Senator. The two kilometre road runs behind the Commissioners’ Quarters in Makurdi, the state capital. Instructively, the road leads to the residence of Iyorchia Ayu, Chairman of the PDP, with whom the G-5 have been in the trenches for six months now. This is not overlooking the one and half kilometre Low Cost Housing Estate-Banban road, named after Chief JC Obande, a revered Idoma leader, which was also commissioned on the same day.

The IBB Square, Makurdi, named after Nigeria’s former military President, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida is the equivalent of Abuja’s Eagle Square and the prime open-air events arena in the state. It was packed full and overflowing into adjoining streets as early as 10am, Monday November 7, even when the city’s ears were yet tingling to the fusion jazz of car honks and sirens, as Ortom and his guests toured various project sites. It was a carnival of PDP colours, a convergence of political greats who headline the politics of the state, and indeed the North Central geopolitical zone. The VIP section of the events place, had a pleasant challenge, contending with the visiting governors, and the Who’s Who in Benue State politics. Except for a very prominent political figure in the state and in Nigeria, former President of the Senate, David Mark who is bereaved, and Ayu, still in the eye of the storm, the roll call was as comprehensive as it was astounding.

The sun was sky-high and blistering, foreheads and faces dripping with grime and perspiration. But these were no deterrents to mammoth assemblage at the Square. Beginning with Ortom’s beautiful and indefatigable wife, Eunice, dignitaries at the event included the deputy governor of the state, the immensely humble and unassuming Benson Abounu. Suswam and his senator colleagues from the state, Emmanuel Orker-Jev and Abba Moro, respectively, were in attendance. Ortom is contesting for the senatorial seat of Benue North West, as he concludes his two terms as governor, May 29, 2023. To this extent, he is a candidate. Serving members and intending candidates of the lower national parliament, notably Richard Gbande, Robert Tyough, Julius Atorough, Benjamin Mzondu, Terkaa Agba, Ukah Emmanuel and John Dyegh, were present. Samson Okwu, Aida Nath Ogwuche, Alex Ogbe and Ojotu Ojema, attended the event.

Member of the PDP Board of Trustees, (BOT), Margaret Icheen, acting Chairman of the party in the state, Isaac Mffo and his colleagues in the State Working Committee, were in full attendance. So were members of the Benue State PDP Campaign Management Committee, led by Cletus Tyokyaa. Gubernatorial flagbearer of the PDP in the 2023 election, Titus Uba and his running mate, John Ngbede, featured at the programme. Elder statesman and former Minister of the Federal Republic, Iyorwuese Hagher, and former presidential aide, Mike Mku, equally found time to grace the rally.

Speaker after speaker restated the imperative for all hands to be on deck for the decisive ouster of the seven and half year old regime of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), which has irreparably traumatised Nigeria. Ortom deployed the opportunity to recast the 2015 electioneering slogan by erstwhile APC flagbearer Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s outgoing President. Buhari had intoned in his now famous backlash of a speech at the time, that the “APC will take Nigeria from top to bottom!” Sadly, Buhari’s underwhelming performance over the years, has given a new meaning to that evergreen utterance. It has been interpreted in contemporary political disputation to imply his prophetic resolve to take Nigeria literally from socioeconomic ascendancy, to the valley of all-round poverty, destitution and ignominy.

Ortom’s new mantra proposes a “bottom to top” political prototype. This anticipates the holistic triumph of the PDP at all levels, beginning from the polling units, through the wards, to the local government areas, onwards to the state, and the federal level. To this extent, the PDP will work towards excelling from the offices of councillors, through local government chairmen, to state assembly members, to federal parliamentarians, to the governorship, and onwards to the presidency. In doing so, Ortom restated that the PDP will not kick away the ropes and ladders with which it sought and received support for ascent to the mountain top. Everyone, every structure from the minutest levels will receive adequate shelter and accommodation under the infinite umbrella of the PDP. Development and dividends of democracy will be fairly apportioned.

Those who expected brickbats and missile-hurling at the event, against the backdrop of the subsisting bad blood between the G-5 and the larger PDP, were most probably disappointed. While expressing his disaffection with the management of rifts and schism within his party, a very realistic Ortom admonished people to vote for their preferred candidates and parties in the coming polls. This must have arisen from his recognition of the dispositions of other party leaders and stakeholders in the state, who have affinity with candidates, different from his preference, especially at the presidential level. A window for possible rapprochement to the subsisting intra-party impasse in the PDP, was opened last Wednesday, when the G-5 visited Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed. Wike spoke on behalf of his colleagues, to the effect that his faction remains open to dialogue and reintegration.

A meeting was reportedly held by Babangida, yesterday which featured Atiku, Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, Okowa, Aminu Tambuwal and former governors Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Bonnie Haruna, Babangida Aliyu, Sule Lamido, Emeka Ihedioha, among others. It may be the eventual olive branch in the mitigation of the subsisting, long-drawn saga. The PDP realises the imperative of confronting the 2023 test as one united family, and will stop at nothing to secure the buy-in of every relevant stakeholder. The APC has adorned itself with ample inflammable oil for comprehensive barbecuing in the 2023 polls. Even at that, the PDP will do better as an undivided, indivisible “combat unit,” to deploy a military terminology.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, poet, journalist, scholar and author, is a Member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, (NGE).

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Opinion

Is Okowa in a witch-hunt or scapegoat melodrama?

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Ifeanyi Okowa

***EFCC perjures itself on Mambilla funds as it unleashes on Atiku’s Running Mate

By Alhaji Ajila Sarafa

The incredulous Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had already detained Mr Ifeanyi Okowa, for two days, over for “N1.3 trillion fraud” and there have been speculations about Okowa’s payments of “N100 billion”, “N40 billion”, N8 billion etc for this and that.
Mr Ifeanyi Okowa is a staunch PDP leader who was previously a Senator of the Federal Republic, a two-term former Delta State governor and was the Running Mate to the PDP Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 elections.

At a press conference on Thursday, 31 October 2024, the EFCC reeled out its achievements in prosecuting “former governors, ministers over N4.92 trillion fraud” and the “successful prosecution of four former governors and two former ministers over the past 12 months under the leadership of its Executive Chairman, Barr. Ola Olukoyede, mentioning high-profile personalities charged like former governors Yahaya Bello (APC) of Kogi State, Abdulfatah Ahmed (PDP) of Kwara State, Willie Obiano (APGA) of Anambra State, and Darius Ishaku (PDP) of Taraba State “for serious allegations involving billions in state funds”.

In what played out like a script of a melodrama to hunt down opposition peoples for real or phantom crimes as offenders or scapegoats or as sacrifices, the EFCC announced at a press conference that the “former Kogi Governor Bello faces charges related to over N190 billion, Ishaku of N27 billion, Ahmed for mismanagement of N10 billion, and Obiano for money laundering and theft of N4 billion.
EFCC also disclosed that it has also charged former ministers Saleh Mamman (APC) and Olu Agunloye (SDP) “for misappropriating funds from the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project of N33.8 billion and $6 billion respectively”.

Everyone should be worried about these crimes towering over N6.3 trillion being committed by less than a dozen men, whether or not they are in the opposition parties to the ruling party or in personal opposition to the current rulers of Nigeria. Are these people the only offenders? Or are these people those who have not heeded the call of one of the National Chairmen of the ruling Party who publicly said, “come to APC and your sins are forgiven”. The former PDP Vice Presidential Candidate, Sen. Okowa is the latest addition to the set of EFCC tagged “financial criminals,” so to say. Is Okowa being witch-hunted or is he liable? However, two things are clearly certain. First, not all the high-profile offenders in Nigeria are in the EFCC net, and second, not everyone in the EFCC net is a financial criminal.

Take the case of Agunloye who was arraigned in January 2024 by EFCC with charges of awarding the construction of the Mambilla Hydroelectric Project, estimated at $6 billion, as a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) contract in 2003 without any cash backing. He was also charged for “taking bribes of N3.6 million and N500,000 in August and October 2019 respectively for the 2003 contract award”. In fact, for the BOT model of contract, the Federal Government was not to pay to procure the contract. It was the contractor who was expected to invest his own funds to construct and operate the hydroelectric dam as well as sell the electricity therefrom at a predetermined rate for 35 years to recoup his investments and profits. Also, as a matter of fact, FGN never paid the contractor in 2003 and has not made any payment to the contractor till now. The big revelation is that EFCC, on the 31st of October 2024 at a widely covered Press Conference, confirmed that the Federal Government of Nigeria wrongly charged the former minister Agunloye when it disclosed that EFCC also “charged former ministers Saleh Mamman and Olu Agunloye for misappropriating funds from the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project of N33.8 billion and $6 billion respectively”. EFCC has now admitted that it is prosecuting Agunloye for misappropriating $6 billion which has never existed. What is that? Witch-hunting? Or scape-goating? Or sacrifice-making?

Alhaji Ajila Sarafa.

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Opinion

To A VeryDarkMan Who Lights Up A Dark Country, Respect

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By Ikeddy ISIGUZO

You can also commit injustice by doing nothing. – Marcus Aurelius

PITCH darkness descends on Nigeria regularly enough that disconcerting as it is,  darkness may be a distinguishing Nigerian feature that is not about to go away. Fewer places reflect the darkness, the neglect of the Nigerian society, than the fullsomeness of the energies for dispensation of injustice.

The entry of a young man, 30, more popularly  known  as VeryDarkMan, is pointing the light to some of the more embarrassingly darkened sides of our justice system. We should be grateful to him for his disruptions.

Without him, the minors who the President, in a rare case of momentary wakefulness, released, would have had their trials  continued under a serious charge of trying to overawe the President’s administration. Minors, as they were, sick, hungry, all the traces of their stresses in full view, were put away for 60 days to allow investigations. Their deemed sponsor is out of reach of the law or above it.

The minors harvested from Kano, Adamawa, other States in the North, and Abuja, for waving Russian flag during their agitation against bad governance, and the increasing hardship in the country, were expected to bail themselves with N10 million each, and have senior civil servants guarantee they would not run away. They need N710 million to get out of detention.

The release and acquittal of the 71 teenagers, mostly beggars picked from the streets, to the Kano State government, is said to be a significant victory for human rights. We joke too much, too often. They had been held since August 2024.

Nobody did anything to release them. They had been forgotten. VeryDarkMan’s momentary detention was the opportunity that beamed the light on the dark recesses of Nigeria’s justice administration.

How many others who cannot afford the price of justice are still held illegally? Some minors, some adults?

The police, the Ministry of Justice, the judge, and all the routes that the children passed to jail, ignored the fact the arrested were children.

VeryDarkMan shouted enough that the next time they were in court, pictures and videos of their fainting went viral. They were hungry. They were sick. They were probably knocking on the doors of death.

Marcus Aurelius whose regnal name was Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, was a stioc philosophy, a Roman Emperor from 161 to 180, a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was among the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, during which there was relative peace, calm, and stability for the Roman Empire from 27 BC to 180 AD.

He expects us to act in the face of a crime or brutal act. If we do not act, Marcus would rate our inaction a form of injustice.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it more succinctly. “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”.

We in different ways failed the minors charged to court in Abuja. They had no business being in jail and undergoing those dehumanising treatments that would stick with them for life. The courts were guilty.

Nigeria failed them particularly those who surround the President. They do too much worsening the public’s perception of the President. Not surprisingly, these same fellows are defending the arraignment of minors.

VeryDarkMan embarrassed them by asking for justice for the children. It was not long before people were questioning VeryDarkMan’s qualifications to dabble into human rights. He told them he had secondary school certificate. It was a disclosure that cut short whatever mischief they intended.

With all their education, their understanding of law and order, our Ministry of Justice easily mixing justice with injustice as they kept those children away for months. Who were they working for? Who do they account to? Is it enough to ask the children to go? With will be done to deter such official misbehaviour?

VeryDarkMan is the light that fights the pitch darkness that has seized the minds of the low and mighty in a mindless show of power, greed of immense dimensions, and the directionlessness that leads a nation that is speeding from one darkness to a worse one.

Who has forgotten the centres of concentric circles of conspiracies that cost Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, Chief Justice of Nigeria his plum job in 2017. None of the processes were followed. He was passed through the Code of Conduct Bureau, and sacked. The courts are now annulling the judgements.

No whimper was heard from the Senate which was in full session throughout the processes that terminated his appointment. The Senate confirms the appointment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, who heads one of the three arms of our democratic government. Our neutrality, as Achibishop Tutu would say, convicts us.

There are more judges and higher ranking persons that the targeted injustices of the past and the times are affecting. Justice is far from everyone contrary to thinking that some are safe.

When the unjust act, they are blinded by motives. Justice Onnoghen in a minority, dissenting judgement, annulled the election of Umaru Yar’Adua as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2007. Onnoghen’s judgement voted in support of Muhammadu Buhari. It was the same Buhari that illegally sacked Onnoghen 10 years later.

Nigeria is bound by an uncaring leadership that cannot even care for itself. It is now impossible to stop the national grid from collapsing as if its constant collapse will increase our GDP. The administration unrelentingly feeds the public excuses for the unmitigated failure to supply electricity which is not even cheap.

Are we not expecting too much thinking that an administration that has made a policy of blaming everyone for everything will care for us? The issue is not that it will not – it simply cannot.

Perhaps VeryDarkMan would next beam his light on other abuses of our rights, while Marcus Aurelius still reminds us not to do nothing about injustices whether against us or other people.

Finally…

CHIEF Baltasar Ebang Engonga, the Equatoguinean whose private tapes almost got more attention than the US elections has proven that human beings can make something of anything. Engonga, the head of his country’s National Financial Investigation Agency, ANIF, is also head of the group that produced the thrilling 400 tapes that would have shaken the box office, stands by his story that participants in the tapes were not forced. I have heard several conclusions about the matter that introduced Equatorial Guinea. Not since the 2000 Olympics when Equatoguinean Eric Moussambani Malonga swam the 100 m freestyle on 19 September in a time of 1min 52.72 secs has the country attained monumental global attention. Moussambani had trouble concluding the race, but he set the record for the slowest time for the event. His time was more than twice regular times for the event. I doubt if we will ever know what Engonga did or understand it enough to pass a judgement.

YESTERDAY, Honourable Alexander Ikwechegh, the House of Representatives member for Aba North/Aba South returned to his constituency to share free petrol and kerosine. He no longer needs to apologise for slapping an Abuja uber driver Mr. Stephen Abuwatseya thrice. After waking Nigerians up to another shade of the oppression we face, Abuwatseya has apologised to Ikwechegh and absolved him of any wrong-doing. The cab man even said he should be blamed for provoking the lawmaker. I apologise for VeryDarkMan who the case wings to fly. VeryDarkMan has already apologised to Ikwechegh. Congratulations, Honourable, there is no better time to commence the 2027 campaign than now.

WHAT did Americans do that is shocking Nigerians? Did we not vote for Muhammadu Buhari? Then followed it up with Bola Ahmed Tinubu? If you sequence a Donald Trump-Joe Biden-Trump administration, the dissonance would not be much different from what Nigerians are suffering. The only difference, though, is that America has standing institutions (they ceased to be strong a while ago) that Trump cannot trample on, completely.

THOSE against Senator Remi Tinubu, the President’s wife, and Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser leading national prayers as the elixir for national security and the tough times, in a week that Peter Obi suggested that productive hours should not be invested in prayers, have more work to do. Since we delight in citing foreign examples to support things we want to foist on others, how are these important national policies managed elsewhere?

• ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues

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Opinion

Governor Okpebholo: A bright Edo beckons

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Governor Monday Okpebholo

By Fred Itua

Sophocles, a Greek philosopher and writer in his Play, Antigone, noted: ‘I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State.
’As Senator Monday Okpebholo assumes office today as the 6th elected Governor of Edo State, Sophocles’ sacred letters ring out loud.
Okpebholo’s emergence as the Governor of Edo State is both symbolic and historic. First, it has eclipsed the long marginalisation of the Esan (Ishan) ethnic group. In the last 33 years, the ethnic group, despite its cerebral population, has only held sway as managers of the State for an infinitesimal period of one year and six months.
Today, Edo people have proven to the rest of the world that everyone in the State matters.
Senator Okpebholo is not oblivious to the enormous tasks ahead of him. He is not also unaware of the damage the eight years of cankerworms and caterpillars Godwin Obaseki ruinously brought upon Edo people. Okpebholo may not have the full grapse of Obaseki’s damage yet. He is, however, ready to change the narratives, notwithstanding.
The emergence of Senator Okpebholo signals a new era of hope, progress, and transformative leadership. Born from humble beginnings, Okpebholo’s journey is a testament to the power of resilience, determination, and unwavering commitment to service. Despite the financial constraints faced by his family, his parents instilled in him the values of hard work, honesty, and perseverance. These early lessons would shape his character and lay the foundation for his future successes
Upon laying a strong foundation, Monday Okpebholo ventured into the world of business with a bold vision and unwavering determination. Drawing upon his innate entrepreneurial spirit and keen business acumen, he established successful ventures across various industries.
Through strategic decision-making, innovation, and a commitment to excellence, Okpebholo’s businesses flourished, creating jobs, driving economic growth, and contributing to the socio-economic development of Nigeria and Edo State.
Motivated by a desire to effect positive change and uplift the lives of his fellow citizens, Okpebholo transitioned into the realm of politics and public service. Recognising the need for visionary leadership and principled governance, he answered the call to serve his kinsmen and champion the aspirations of the people. As the Senator representing Edo Central Senatorial District, Monday distinguished himself as a principled leader, a tireless advocate for justice and equality, and a voice for the voiceless.
As a Governor, his conviction will be grounded in a profound commitment to the people of Edo State and a bold vision for the future. He envisions a State where every citizen has access to quality education, healthcare, and economic opportunities.
His economic blueprint prioritises job creation, infrastructural development, and investment in key sectors, such as agriculture, technology, and tourism.
Okpebholo is a firm believer in the transformative power of good governance, transparency, and accountability. He has pledged to govern with integrity, fairness, and inclusivity, ensuring that the voices of all Edo citizens will be heard and adequately represented.
Central to Okpebholo’s leadership philosophy is a deep-seated belief in servant-leadership and people-centred governance. He understands that leadership is not about wielding power or advancing personal agendas but about serving the needs and interests of the people.
Senator Okpebholo will lead by example and demonstrate humility, empathy, and a genuine concern for the welfare of his constituents – Edo people. He will foster collaboration, dialogue, and consensus-building and recognise that collective action is essential for driving meaningful change and progress.
Okpebholo’s vision for Edo State is grounded in a grassroots approach that prioritises community engagement, outreach, and empowerment. He understands the importance of connecting with people on a personal level, listening to their concerns, and earning their trust.
Okpebholo represents the embodiment of hope, progress, and transformative leadership. His life story, marked by resilience, determination, and a commitment to service, resonates with the aspirations of the people of Edo State.
With his vision, integrity, and proven track record of success, Okpebholo is poised to lead Edo State into a new era of prosperity, unity, and inclusive development.
As the Governor of Edo State, he will not retreat and place his responsibilities on the shoulders of others. He will make tough decisions that will move Edo forward. Unlike Obaseki, who earned himself a name as the most famous MoU Governor, Okpebholo will rely on the expertise of the vibrant Edo State Civil Service and other capable hands he will hire to drive home his agenda for the Heart Beat of the Nation.
Okpebholo repeatedly assured during the campaigns that ‘Edo will witness a new development. This is the time the civil servants in the state will have a free hand and enjoy their job. There will be no consultants coming from somewhere to do their jobs. We will give them a chance to do their job. Their salaries would be guaranteed and no one would reduce their salary.’
As an ICT guru, Okpebholo will harness the skills of Edo entrepreneurial youths and make the State the hub of IT experts in the West of the Savanah. Under his watch as Governor, the vibrant youths of Edo will be put to gainful use and add to the growth and prosperity of the State.
No section, ethnic group, or religious aligners will be left out in Okpebholo’s Government. With him as the Captain of the ship, Edo State will berth successfully, and the people shall echo the Book of Proverbs 29:2, that ‘When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.’

Rohini Nilekani, an Indian writer, author, and philanthropist, posited that ‘As citizens, we have to co-create good governance, we cannot outsource it and hope to be passively happy consumers. Like everything worth its while, good governance must be earned.”

What more can I add than to urge Edo sons and daughters to rally behind their worthy son, Okpebholo. He will make Edo State safe and great again.

From the Kukuruku Hills in Iyamho to the Anthills in Udomi; vast arable lands in Sobe, to the oil-rich Gele Gele; fear not! With Governor Monday Okpebholo, AKA, Akpako-Messiah, help has come!

As a Christian, I offer this prayer from the second stanza of a hymn, titled Abide With Me by Henry Francis Lyte for Governor Okpebholo.

‘Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.’

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with Governor Monday Okpebholo, now and forevermore, amen.

Long Governor Okpebholo!
Long live Edo State!
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Fred Itua is the spokesman to Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo

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