Opinion

Jagaban as Model democrat: A cross-examination

Published

2 years ago

December 14, 2022

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By Tunde Olusunle

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, presidential flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), for the February 2023 election shocked many by his outburst earlier in the year. Among other aliases, Tinubu is famous for the traditional title, Jagaban, (lead warrior), bestowed on him years ago by the people of Borgu in Niger State. Out of a meeting with Muhammadu Buhari who he hopes to succeed as president, Tinubu was accosted by State House reporters. They sought his views, among others, about his reaction to the presidential intent of his “son.” Vice President Yemi Osinbajo a Tinubu protege had expressed interest in succeeding his principal, Buhari, who he had served at the time for about seven years. Since the “father” was interested in the same position like his son, what was his reaction to the unfolding scenario? A visibly incensed Tinubu reacted very sharply: “I have no son grown enough to run for presidency.”

It is widely believed that Tinubu was catalytic to the political development of Osinbajo, the former university professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN). As governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, Tinubu appointed Osinbajo his attorney general and commissioner for justice. Osinbajo, who served as special adviser, (legal advice and litigation) to a former attorney general and minister of justice, Bola Ajibola from 1988 to 1992, is also a senior clergy with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, (RCCG). He was reportedly recommended by Tinubu, to Buhari as his running mate, immediately after the December 2014 presidential primary of the APC.

Tinubu deeply coveted the position and put himself forward. This was precedent to his being hushed by other leaders of the party, who urged religious sensitivity in a potentially fractious polity. Tinubu’s indifference to the critical reality of Nigeria as a nation with two dominant, maybe mutually jealous religions, Christianity and Islam, has been practically reinforced by his preference for a same faith pairing, on his ticket. How well his condescending option has been received by a cross section of Nigeria’s electorate, will be manifest come Saturday February 25, 2023.

Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), has been more conscientious and pragmatic, opting for a more perceptive and balanced ticket. He is running with the very experienced and amenable Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta State. Osinbajo’s political effrontery was greeted by recriminations and reprimands, even from the vortex of the Tinubu behemoth. Bayo Onanuga, one of the exemplars of the “underground” press which battled the repressive Sani Abacha era to no end, indeed theorised in a public statement to the effect that he brokered the foremost Tinubu/Osinbajo meet up. Saturday February 25, 2023 is just at the bend, by God’s divine grace.

The April 2022 faceoff between Tinubu and Osinbajo was not the first time the self-styled “national leader” of the APC tangled with his supposed dissenters and opponents. In the subsisting fourth republic in Nigeria, Tinubu launched the unwholesome tradition of subjugation and ejection of his deputies from office. Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele, and Femi Pedro who started out with him in 1999 and 2003 respectively, were variously frustrated out of office by their common nemesis, Tinubu. While Bucknor-Akerele resigned December 2002, Femi Pedro was inaugurated in her place, January 2003. About a fortnight to the conclusion of the Tinubu government in May 2007, however, the Lagos State House of Assembly, instigated by the control freak Tinubu, impeached Pedro “over allegations of misconduct.” Bucknor-Akerele’s preceding relationship with Tinubu as “home-based” and “diaspora” components of the National Democratic Coalition, (NADECO) the anti-Abacha resistance coalition, counted for little when Tinubu fell out with her.

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, Tinubu’s erstwhile Chief of Staff who succeeded him in “Government House, Alausa, Ikeja,” had his blues with his former principal. Fashola opted for a governance prototype which derived from his background as a technocrat. His benefactor, however, desired a zombified protege who took dictates and instructions from the archetypal Baba Isale, (political grandmaster), as known within the Nigerian context. Fashola’s resistance to robotisation almost cost him a second term ticket in 2011, as Tinubu was going to ring the changes. With the ruling PDP of the Goodluck Jonathan era winking at Fashola willing to gift him a ticket on the platter, however, a brow-beaten Tinubu recoiled. Fashola has since asserted his “independence,” becoming one of the star boys of the Buhari administration, who is into his eighth year as works and housing minister. He may yet become the longest serving minister of that ministry.

Akinwumi Ambode, a chartered accountant and seasoned technocrat who succeeded Fashola in 2015, was not as fortunate. He got kicked in the bottom by his mentor for what Tinubu described as “selfishness and deviation from the masterplan for the development of Lagos State.” Ambode was specifically nailed for “not carrying everybody along in the administration of the state.” In the ingenious and expanding lexicon of Nigeria’s sociopolitics, “carrying along” is the practice of unrestrained dispensation of patronage to stakeholders, which is tantamount to oiling the wheels, bolts and joints of the political superstructure. Ambode lost the opportunity of a return ticket to Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Adeseye Ogunlewe, who represented Lagos East senatorial zone on the platform of the primordial Alliance for Democracy, (AD) between 1999 and 2003, had his fair share of issues with Tinubu. Ogunlewe was appointed works and housing minister by Obasanjo in the latter’s second term. Ogunlewe relentlessly criticised the Tinubu administration which he once described as “a failure and disaster.” In one instance, Ogunlewe intoned that Tinubu’s scoresheet, made the people of Lagos full of regrets for voting him. Deploying the influence of proxy authority, Tinubu heckled Ogunlewe to no end, until the former defected from the PDP to the APC, last year.

No less harried was Olorunnimbe Mamora, incumbent minister of science and technology, who served as speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, between 1999 and 2003. Mamora won election in 2003 and 2007, respectively, to represent Lagos East. Despite the experience and colour he brought to the Senate between 2003 and 2011, he was denied a third term, on the express directives of Tinubu, whose aliases include Olowo Eko, (money man of Lagos). But the same Tinubu has gifted his wife, Remi, three successive tickets to the Senate!

Indeed, despite serving as deputy director-general of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation in 2015, Mamora’s name was conspicuously missing, when appointments into positions into the new government, were being made. It was speculated that the new regime deferred to Tinubu, on issues of political patronage and nobody from the Lagos sub-country could be listed except by his express consent. Mamora subsequently featured as managing director of the National Inland Waterways Authority, (NIWA), courtesy of the sole intervention of former transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi. Mamora functioned as Amaechi’s deputy in the campaign which produced the Buhari presidency, and Amaechi thought he had been unfairly treated when it was time to appropriate the cookies.

The example of Lasun Yusuf, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives during the eighth assembly, who defected from the APC to Labour Party, (LP), towards the actualization of his gubernatorial project in Osun State, remains fresh. Tinubu’s beef with Yusuf dated back to 2015. Yusuf frontally supported Yakubu Dogara for the position of Speaker of the lower parliament. The PDP caucus in the House thereafter, unanimously backed him as deputy to Dogara. Muzzled out of the APC, no thanks to a political tradition which accords “right of first refusal” to the incumbent, Yusuf sought new grounds elsewhere. Addressing a rally ahead of the July 2022 election, the Capone used the opportunity to exact his pound of flesh from Yusuf. His words: “Since they have opted to contest against my party, my candidate using the platform of Labour Party, may they deservedly labour to death!” I’m told anything, everything is possible once a microphone is clutched by a politician on the campaign dais.

No less demeaning was Tinubu’s riposte on Dapo Abiodun, on his visit to Ogun State earlier in the year, ahead of the presidential convention of the APC. Looking in the direction of Abiodun, his host and governor of the state, Tinubu blurted: Eleyi i ba ma je governor bi ki se tori temi. This interpretes as: “This one, this thing would never have made it to Government House, Abeokuta, but for me.” True, the utterance has become the subject of skits and memes on the social media, it cannot be more demeaning describing a governor or anyone for that matter, as a “thing” in whatever tongue.

The history of Nigeria’s evolution from the fascism of the Sani Abacha military era, documents Tinubu as one of those who stood against dictatorship. It is expected therefore, that he is up to speed with the intricacies and nuances of practical democracy. Tinubu’s demonstrably brusque, fiery, unforgiving temperament, however, compels introspection into the manner of combustible persona Nigeria might be signing up, in the event of collegiate political miscalculation, come February 2023.

A leader who vends political tickets, who determines terms of office, who dispenses freebies while posturing as an avowed democrat, is a potential risk to the evolution of popular governance. Many of his celebrated mentees, apparently, have tasted the flaming raw wrath of an absolutist, who places a leash on his every subject. And they must stay in line or be doomed castaways. We leave Kashim Shettima to find out more about his senior partner, if they do make it to Aso Villa.

Nigeria’s southern media creates an erroneous impression that the onslaught against military despotism was powered only by democrats in the south. The Peoples’s Democratic Movement, (PDM), established by Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, deputy to Obasanjo in the latter’s years as military head of state between 1976 and 1979, had Atiku as de facto Number Two man. Atiku always had good friends in the media and leveraged their goodwill. PDM addressed press conferences and issued press releases, calling for the unconditional exit of the military from office. PDM relentlessly battled the military milieu of Sani Abacha to no end, culminating in the incarceration of Yar’Adua. At the height of the clamour for the exit of the military rulership, Atiku refused overtures to betray the PDM by the Abacha government. He was thereafter targeted in his Kaduna home, an incident which claimed seven lives. Atiku was compelled to accede to entreaties to relocate abroad, while the sociopolitical situation simmered.

Nigeria Container Services, (NICOTES) the marine logistics outfit co-founded by Atiku and Italian partner Gabrielle Volpi, was also emasculated, to deliberately asphyxiate the fountain of funding, for the perceived “anti-government activities” of the PDM. More fundamentally, his gross investment in the development and sustenance of democracy, will be diagnosed, subsequently. Importantly, these include the landmark litigations he instituted, pursued and triumphed in, in what is easily the highest number of constitutional inquisitions by any individual or entity, in the last two decades. Maxwell Gidado, SAN and Chudi Ojukwu have captured these in their jointly edited book: Landmark Constitutional Law Cases In Nigeria, 2004 to 2007: The Atiku Abubakar Cases, (2013). Democracy has been the bigger beneficiary of these benevolent engagements, which substantially, have clipped the wings of overbearing political overlords.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, is Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to Atiku Abubakar.

Opinion

BENUE 2027:The Apa/Agatu Quest for Equity

Published

5 days ago

January 14, 2025

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By Tunde Olusunle

It may be well over two years to the next cycle of general elections in Nigeria. For the people of Apa/Agatu federal constituency in *Benue South, however, the measure of their participation and integration into the governance scheme will be defined in the run-up to the general polls that year. Nine local government areas make up the predominantly Idoma country of Benue State also labelled Zone C in the senatorial tripod of the geo-polity. The zone is also home to the Igede ethnic stock and the Etulo. Local government areas in “Benue Zone C” include: Apa, Agatu, Oju, Obi, Ado, Ogbadibo, Okpokwu, Otukpo and Ohimini. The other zones, Benue North East and Benue North West, are wholly dominated by the Tiv nationality, striding across 14 local government areas. They are christened Zone A and Zone B in the local political scheme of the state. Federal constituencies in Benue South are: Apa/Agatu, Oju/Obi; Ado/Ogbadibo/Opokwu and Otukpo/Ohimini.

The subjugation of groups and ethnicities considered demographically smaller, by the larger groups which has dominated Nigeria’s politics over time, has not been any different for the Idoma of Benue State. Until the circumstantial emergence of a Yahaya Bello from the Ebira ethnicity in Kogi State in 2015, the Igala had the relay baton of governorship of Kogi State, in rounds and succession. The Ebiras and the Okun-Yoruba zones in the state could only aspire to be serial deputies or Secretaries to the State Government. This political template was virtually cast in stone. The Ilorin people of Kwara State have similarly wholly warehoused the gubernatorial office, sparingly conceding the position to other sociocultural groups in the state. The only exception was the concession of the seat to a candidate from Kwara South, in the person of Abdulfatah Ahmed, by his predecessor, Bukola Saraki in 2011. Even at that, there were murmurs and dissent from those who believed Ahmed came from a community too close to the Ilorin emirate to be of genuine Igbomina stock, which prides itself as the pure Yoruba species in Kwara State.
Twenty-six years into the Fourth Republic, the maximum proximity of the Idoma to Government House, Makurdi, has been by the customary allocation of the Deputy Governor’s slot to its people. Ogirri Ajene from Oju/Obi, the charismatic blue-blood of blessed memory, was deputy to George Akume, incumbent Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), from 1999 to 2007. Akume it was reported, genuinely desired to be succeeded by Ajene who exhibited competence and loyalty and could build on their legacies. The Tiv nation we understand, shot down the proposal. Gabriel Suswam succeeded Akume and had the urbane multipreneur, Stephen Lawani from Ogbadibo as deputy. Samuel Ortom, a Minister in the Goodluck Jonathan presidency who took over from Suswam opted for Benson Abounu, an engineer from Otukpo as running mate, while Hyacinth Alia, the Catholic priest who succeeded Ortom, also chose as deputy, Samuel Ode, who was also a Minister in the Jonathan government, from Otukpo. Arising from this precedence, Apa/Agatu has not for once, been considered for a place in Government House, Makurdi.
In similar fashion, the position of Senator representing Benue South, has repeatedly precluded Apa/Agatu federal constituency. David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark a former army General from Otukpo, took the first shot at the office in 1999. He was to remain in the position for five consecutive times, a distinctive record by Nigerian standards. Mark would subsequently become President of the Senate and the third most senior political office holder in the nation’s governance scheme for a string of two terms between 2007 and 2015. He was replaced by Patrick Abba Moro, who hails from Okpokwu and was a former teacher, in 2019. Abba Moro who previously served as Minister of Interior in the Jonathan government from 2011 to 2015, won a second term at the 2023 general elections and remains substantive Senator for “Benue Zone C.” He is indeed incumbent Minority Leader of the Senate, and thus a principal officer in the leadership scheme of the “red chambers.”
While Moro is barely two years into his second term, there are suggestions that he is interested in a third term which should run from 2027 to 2031! This is the core issue which has dominated contemporary political discourse in Benue South, especially from the Apa/Agatu bloc. For Apa/Agatu, it is bad enough that they are repeatedly bypassed in the nomination of deputy governors in the scheme of state politics. It is worse that they are equally subjugated by their own kinsmen within the context of politics in *Idoma and Igede land.* This is particularly worrying when both local government areas constituting the Apa/Agatu federal constituency, Apa and Agatu, are not in anyway deficient in human resources to represent Benue South. Names like John Elaigwu Odogbo, the incumbent *Och’Idoma* and respected clergy; Isa Innocent Ekoja, renowned Professor and Librarian; Sonny Togo Echono, FNIA, OON, Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFUND), and John Mgbede, Emeritus State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Benue State, readily come to mind.
Major General R.I. Adoba, (rtd), a former Chief Training and Operations in the Nigerian Army; Professor Emmanuel Adanu, former Director of the Kaduna-based National Water Resources Institute, (NWRI) and the US-based specialist in internal medicine, Dr Raymond Audu, are eminent Apa/Agatu constituents. There are also Ada Egahi, long-serving technocrat who retired from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, (NPHDA), and Super Eagles forward, Moses Simon, (why not, hasn’t the retired soccer star, George Opong Weah just completed his term as President of Liberia)? The Member Representing Apa/Agatu in the House of Representatives, Godday Samuel Odagboyi, an office previously held by Solomon Agidani, as well as Adamu Ochepo Entonu, is, like his predecessors, a prominent figure from the resourceful Apa/Agatu federal constituency.
The Olofu brothers, Tony Adejoh, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, (AIG), and David, PhD, a renowned management and financial strategist, who is also an Emeritus Member of the Benue State Executive Council during the Ortom dispensation, are from the same federal constituency. So is Abu Umoru, a serial entrepreneur who represents Apa State Constituency in the Benue State House of Assembly. The continuing intra-zonal alienation of Apa-Agatu from the politics of Benue Zone C, remains a sore thumb which must be clinically diagnosed and intentionally treated in the run-up to 2027.
If previous top level political office holders from Idomaland in general and Apa/Agatu in particular, had diligently applied themselves to tangible, multisectoral development of the zone and constituency, the present clamour for inclusiveness would probably been less vociferous. *River Agatu* which flows from Kogi State, and runs through Agatu before emptying into *River Benue,* is a potential game changer in the socioeconomy of Apa/Agatu, Benue South and Benue State in general. Properly harnessed, it can revolutionise agriculture and aquaculture in the state, beyond subsistence levels which are the primary vocations of the indigenous people. Rice, yam, guinea corn, millet and similar grains, thrive in the fertile soils of the area. These can support “first level” processing of produce and guarantee value addition beneficial to the primary producers, before being shipped to other markets. River Agatu can indeed be dammed to provide hydro-electricity to power the entire gamut of Idomaland.
The infrastructure deficit in Benue South with specific reference to Apa/Agatu is equally very concerning. A notable pattern in Nigerian politics is its self-centeredness, the penchant for political players to prioritise their personal wellbeing and the development of their immediate space. This has accentuated the ever recurring desire of people to ascend the political pedestals of their predecessors if that is the principal window by which they can also privilege their own primary constituents. Motorable roads are non-existent, seamless travel between communities therefore encumbered. Expectedly this has been a major impediment to subsistent trade and social engagements between constituents and their kinsmen. Primary health facilities are almost non-existent, compelling people to flock to Otukpo, headquarters of Benue South, for the minutest of medical advice and treatment.
Apa/Agatu pitiably bleeds from the relentless and condemnable activities of vagrants and bandits who have reduced the constituency into a killing field. Reports suggest that in the past 15 years, no less than 2500 lives were lost to the vicious attacks of marauders and trespassers in the area under reference. This unnerving situation has compelled engagements between concerned Apa/Agatu leaders, and the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force, (NPF). The prayer is for the swift establishment of a mobile police outpost in the troubled sub-zone to contain bloodletting. The proposal, anchored by AIG Tony Olofu, NPOM, (rtd), and Echono, has received the blessings of the police high command. At the last update, a commander for the outfit had been named, while the deployment of personnel had begun in earnest.
It is very clear that in the march towards 2027, Apa/Agatu will refuse, very vehemently, to be sidelined and trampled upon in the political scheme of their senatorial zone. Abba Moro may desire a third term in the Senate, but the people of Apa/Agatu are quick to remind him that his curriculum vitae as a politician is sufficiently sumptuous for him to yield the seat in the “red chambers” and sit back like an elder statesman. They remind you that for a man who began his working life modestly as a lecturer in the Federal Polytechnic, Ugbokolo in 1991, Abba Moro has done extremely well for himself in Nigerian politics. For reminders, Abba Moro was elected Chairman of Okpokwu local government in the state as far back as 1998. Ever since, he has remained a permanent fixture in Nigeria’s national politics.
The people of Apa/Agatu will put up a determined fight for the Benue South senatorial seat in 2027, and no one should begrudge them. They are the proverbial ram which was pushed to the wall, which must of necessity push back with angered horns to liberate itself. They are already engaging with their kith across “Benue Zone C” to ensure that intra-zonal equity, fairness and justice, prevails in communal politics.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), teaches Creative Writing at the University of Abuja

Opinion

The Prince Adebayo prescriptions for ease of doing Business: 15 Take-Aways

Published

5 days ago

January 14, 2025

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By Dr. Ag Zaki

On Thursday, 9 January 2025, Prince Adewole Adebayo presented a keynote address at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. The occasion was the annual conference of a group of professionals, business executives and experts codenamed J9C for January 9 Collective. The theme of the Conference was “Business and Policy Strategy: Examining the Role of Reform in enhancing the ease of doing business in Nigeria.” Prince Adebayo is a versatile cerebral man of many parts, a lawyer, a multimedia practitioner, a real estate investor, a large-scale miner, a philanthropist, a community developer, and the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The organisers of the J9C conference introduced him as an intercontinental lawyer because he currently practices law in over sixteen countries.

The full speech of Prince Adebayo at the occasion is available online and can be accessed by clicking at this url: https://youtu.be/SsHkcJbVNRg?si=ebvoOVqGh0zVOsnt or by scanning the QR code above. However, we are presenting the salient take-aways from this most incisive keynote address below for the convenience of interested persons and for the public good.

THE TAKE-AWAYS
Preamble
1. Not every change of policy or programme is a reform. A reform is a fundamental change in the activities, programmes, and policies structured to cause improvement. Genuine government reforms are people oriented and so citizens can interject, comment or contribute.
2. Reform may be internally motivated, externally forced or imposed, or technological driven.
3. The government of Nigeria must first reform itself to be able to implement development-oriented reforms to improve the country’s economic performance.

In general terms
4. Fiscal and monetary reforms are critical and are urgently required in Nigeria. While government can freely control its fiscal reforms, it must be bound by market forces for realistic and realisable monetary reforms.
5. Economic reforms must positively affect developmental policies, programmes and projects to engender economic growth, increase in efficiency, and lead to stability. Economic and political reforms must be implemented pari-passu for untainted policies and programmes.
6. Urgent structural reforms are required in areas of legal reforms, laws on banking controls and regulations, lending and borrowing as well as land matters.

In specific terms
7. Reforms which are aimed at targeting ease of doing business must be aligned with the Malam Aminu Kano maxim that “all civil servants should abstain from contracts or business”.
8. Nigeria must break the current odious and unwholesome conspiracies between policy makers, civil servants, and contractors, which can lead to irreversible endemic corruption, long foreseen by the revered Malam Aminu Kano, and which can permanently damage the economy.
9. Structural reforms must ensure that land laws open up maximum benefits and potentials of the land, encourage labour productivity and efficient and transparent entrepreneurship rules including registration, capital and lending matters.
10. Tax reforms should be broad-based, not about sharing of revenue but promoting productivity and competitiveness in all aspects of endeavours and infrastructure reforms should make transportation of people and goods safe and cost effective.
11. Monitoring economic crimes must be thorough and should go beyond arresting of “Yahoo boys” and those spraying Naira notes, but those devaluing the Naira and abusing economic rules and regulations.

Warnings
12. Adebayo left some stern terse warnings for the business sector and for the government of Nigeria.
13. Business executives and professionals should not ask or encourage government for specific reforms but for general broad-based reforms as firm-specific reforms can enhance operations of specific firms or business in the short term but will ultimately kill the industry.
14. Government should not meddle into business or be guided by partisan businessmen; government should meet business only at the junction of regulatory framework.
15. Government should be selfless and honest in carrying out reforms, incorporate measurable performance indices and ensure that reforms are implemented in a way not to inflict pains or punishment on the people.

# DrZaki25, 903 Tafawa Balewa Way, Abuja

Opinion

Governor Monday Okpebholo: A Blessing to Edo State

Published

6 days ago

January 13, 2025

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Monday Okpebholo

By Eigbefo Felix

His Excellency, Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Executive Governor of Edo State, has demonstrated that he is a blessing to the state through his policies, appointments, initiation of road construction across the three senatorial districts, and his deep love for the people of Edo State.

Governor Monday Okpebholo has begun fulfilling the five-point agenda he promised the good people of the state since his inauguration.

In the area of security, he has shown total commitment. He assured the people of Edo State that he would ensure their safety, and true to his word, the state remains peaceful, which has brought joy to its residents. He has provided the necessary support to security personnel.

The governor increased the subvention for Ambrose Alli University (AAU) from ₦40 million to ₦500 million. He also promised to address the issues facing AAU medical students. Additionally, he has started renovating primary and secondary schools across the state, underscoring his understanding of the importance of education.

The agricultural sector has taken a positive turn as Governor Okpebholo has allocated ₦70 billion to the sector. Recognizing agriculture’s importance to both the state and the nation, he is positioning Edo State to become the food basket of the nation with his investments in the sector.

During the electioneering period, Senator Okpebholo promised to create 5,000 jobs within his first 100 days in office. He has already begun the process, and soon, the people of Edo State will benefit from these employment opportunities. Unlike in the past, he will not rely on MOUs before making appointments. Furthermore, he has started appointing Edo State indigenes, rather than outsiders, to various positions.

Governor Okpebholo has commenced road projects across the state, from Edo South to Edo Central and Edo North. He believes that when roads are motorable, the prices of goods in the market will automatically reduce.

He has also begun investing in the health sector, understanding its critical importance to the people of Edo State.

Governor Monday Okpebholo’s initiatives and actions affirm his dedication to transforming Edo State for the better.