Fred Itua is the Chief Press Secretary to Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo. In this exclusive interview with OJIEVA EHIOSUN, He spoke on the election, why APC won overwhelmingly, why cyber propaganda by ex-Governor, Godwin Obaseki did not win election for PDP. He also assured Edo people Okpebholo would surpass records set by previous governments and the need for Edo people to rally round the governor in his efforts to write history in Edo State. Excerpts:
Despite the challenges faced by APC before the Edo 2024 guber election, where nobody gave APC a chance, your principal, Senator Monday Okpebholo, came saw and conquered; what was the secret ?
There were two kinds of campaigns I witnessed during the election. I went to my village to monitor and participate in the poll. There were those who relied heavily on propaganda and the media; they were always on air ventilating, speaking nicely and all of that. They believed that going to TV stations that had less than 5,000 viewership in Edo was going to give them victory
Whereas on the other hand, the Governor Okpebholo traversed the 192 wards in Edo, went to meetings, saw people that matter in the state; all aggrieved people in PDP were deeply involved in the campaign process. So, when he won, for those who understand politics, it wasn’t a surprise. But for those who were speaking the nicest of English, who were part of the MOU administration, that was evicted by Edo people, they felt it was going to be business as usual. But the people decided otherwise and it will take a very long time to recover from the crushing defeat that they suffered. They are hoping that with the blackmail they are trying to advance, the Tribunal will go in their favour. But the law is blind; the Tribunal will look at the facts, look at the electoral act, look at the evidence before the it, if there is no aspect of it that was breeched, the court would do what is right in the interest of Nigerians, not because PDP and its agents are whipping up sentiments against the governor who in just three weeks had done what Obaseki could not do for eight years.
Even before the election, APC was sounding too confident that they would win, what inspired that confidence?
APC sounded confident that they would win because they knew they had worked hard. I recall that the other side, I don’t want to glorify them, had campaigns in just headquarters of the local government while the man who is in power, Okpebholo, like I told earlier, traversed the wards across the three senatorial districts soliciting for support and votes. He attended almost all the political meetings, while the other man was somewhere in government house, thinking that with the use of cyber bulling that they could cajole the voters to believe that they were popular. Politics is local, if it is local then APC went to the local people and got the votes. So, how is that a surprise?
If you work hard you will definitely get good results. If you have an examination and you prepare for it very well and the results come out and you come out in flying colours, is that a surprise? No.
So while the other man was gallivanting, speaking nice English, the other man was having sleepless nights, meeting people and campaigning.
A section of the public is saying that Okpebholo is on the quiet side, that some top persons in the party might likely take advantage of his calmness. What is your take on this?
For the past three weeks has anybody hijacked the government from him, in the last three weeks he suspended the activities of market women in the name of unionism, can a quiet man do that? In the last three weeks, he stopped those touts and rascals who were collecting money illegally from motorists, can a quiet man do that? In the last two months, cultism and killings were at its peak in Edo State, the atmosphere was tense, but today normalcy has returned to the state, can a weak man do that? A Benin man was in office for eight years, he even named a ministry, ministry of roads and bridges, but did not build a single bridge. And somebody within a space of one week flagged off the construction of a bridge and it’s expected to be completed within the space of 18 months. Can a weak person do that? Can a weak and quiet man restore sacked lecturers of state-ownned university, Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma? The state judges that were not sworn-in by Godwin Obaseki, Okpebholo just did that a few days ago. Can a weak and quiet man do that? I can go on and on. Sanity is being restored, road construction is ongoing in different parts of the state. A new era has come in Edo and we must all key into it to move the state forward.
The immediate past government under Godwin Obaseki came up with Edo Best Education programme, what is your assessment of the programme?
The Edo Best was nothing but a fraud. Governor Okpebholo has promised to revitalise the system. He has gone round some schools, saying that every public school in the state will be given the best that will make them compete with other secondary schools in the country in terms of infrastructural development. So, if that is what weakness means, then we need people like him that are quiet and weak to do the right thing.
Politically, Esan is known to produce governors with excellent performance like Prof. Ambrose Ali, Prof. Osunbor; do you see Okpebholo surpassing the records of Ambrose Ali and others?
Senator Okpebholo will do so. He will surpass. It’s not a competition or a relay race, Professor Ambrose Ali is one of the best we have had, in old Bendel State, which is now Delta and Edo States. He will surpass his records not because he wants to compete with him, but because the man has set a benchmark and was hoping or he had hoped when he was alive that some day someone will come from his own place that would surpass his records. And Senator Okpebholo in a space of four years will do it, and it means that Edo Central is blessed with great leaders.
Okpebholo, will use Edo people’s money to work for Edo people. So anyone who feels that he is being sponsored by one prophet or babalawo somewhere will be shocked at the level of development they will witness. Okpebholo will do wonderfully well.
Recall that the past MoU government by Obaseki had a running battle with the Monarch, but in less than two weeks of his administration Senator Okpebholo has restored the full statutory rights of the Monarch. So, I keep telling people if being quiet, if being calm is something that will guarantee good governance, then Senator Okpebholo has it all.
There are some projects started by Obaseki that were not completed before his exit, will the new governor continue with them?
Government is a continuous thing; he will review them, anyone tha t is viable will be completed for the interest of Edo people. He will handle them, there are some he is already handling. As long as the project is in the interest of the people, he will carry on with them.
Will the governor focus on sports or is sports going to suffer neglect?
Edo as you know is the centre of sports in Nigeria. The best striker in the National team today is from Esan. There was a time in the Super Eagles Edo, Delta had the majority in the team.
The Governor and his Deputy, Dennis Idahosa, are sports lovers, they will do everything to give sports top priority in their five-point agenda.
Also, when our girls Edo Queens were in Morocco for the women’s Champions League, the governor put a call across to them to ginger them up. So, sports as a unifying factor will be used to bridge the gap between the low and the high.
Governor Okpebholo will address almost sectors of the economy and put Edo State top in infrastructural development. He is just starting; in four years, Edo people will see the difference and they will be happy that they made a good choice.
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