In a proper society, this is an unfair contest. Personally, I hold competence, character and personality over tribe and tongue. It matters to me not where anyone comes from if they can get the job done. How many of us would employ a bungling idiot because they are from our tribe and speak same language as us? So why do we fight naked to ensure the man from same village as us, etc, superintend over us as President or Governor?
Not to belabour the issue, I agree that the next Edo Governor should be from Edo Central to ensure the cord that bind Edo people for hundreds of years remain strong. Many people probably do not know that the ancient Benin Empire was supported to be great by all Edo tribes,including Esans, who also contributed soldiers to the Benin Army in furtherance of the course of extending the empire. So to ensure all Edo tribes feel part and parcel of the Edo project, it was essential the other Edo tribes conceded the 2024 Governorship to Esan at this time so we can be properly galvanised to face the future together.
Who is the one to lead us into this future? A prowl of leopards led by a sheep will meet a certain disastrous end. The next Edo Governor must be a man who shows he is prepared and would be ready to hit the ground running from the first day. We cannot afford to have a Governor that would be led by others. The Edo Governor must show that he knows where he is going by showing us where he is coming from and where he is today.
The next Governor of Edo State should be a man who commands respect across the State. He must be a person that is able to connect with the entire State and has broad knowledge of the various demographics making up the State.
Monday Okpebholo is showing that he is another Buhari and Tinubu all over again. He’s being shielded from the media the way Tinubu and Buhari were shielded. He’s making unbelievable gaffes like Tinubu and Buhari. He’s showing an unbelievable emptiness, intellectual lassitude and tribal bigotry like Buhari. Few days ago, he confessed that he deactivated his WhatsApp to avoid insults,just like Tinubu did before 2023 election. ”
Esan people must wake up, stand up to reject this Buhari and Tinubu look alike that the APC is once again trying to foist on us. If he resembles Buhari and Tinubu, he would certainly give same results like them.
Apart from the obvious show of bungling incompetence Monday Okpebholo keep showing, what I find most numbing, annoying and insidious is the presentation of the APC ticket, having a serving senator as Governorship candidate and a serving member of the House of Reps as his deputy. They started their campaign for Governor just after their elections into the National Assembly, before they were inaugurated to represent their various constituent and district in the National Assembly. I found this totally disrespectful to members of their constituencies and District . The APC by this, have yet again clearly showed that they have no focus and that they do not rate Edo people at all. This recklessness must be checked and Edo people must ask questions. You had barely spent two months as a Senator or a Member of the House of Representatives and you started distracting yourself with personal gubernatorial ambitions, when there is nothing the people can use to rate your performance as a legislator, just because you can throw money around, hire hatchet men and praise singers ?
What has the APC candidate, senator Monday Okpebholo done in the senate that should make Edo people reward him with the Governorship of the state?
Many times, I see him fidgeting while trying to address basic questions. He is 54 ( his actual age isn’t clear though, as some of his documents show 1972 and 1977) but his hands shake while holding the microphone, his posture unstable, walking around the podium like a primary school pupil in a debate session, showing zero self confidence. What is even worse is his lack of cognition and understanding of even basic issues. A candidate for governorship of Edo state that did not know the difference between a museum and a zoo will be an embarrassment to Edo people; his government would be rudderless,leaving Edo people a lot poorer and and much more disillusioned. How can he sit with foreign investors and negotiate on our behalf ? He has sufficiently shown that he would sign our future away and sell us to slavery to foreign countries if he is Governor.
So to be Governor of Edo state, a candidate must show capacity and personality . He must show that he understands the issues and he is able to profer solutions in a cost effective manner.
Asue Ighodalo has clearly shown he is this candidate. The fecundity of his mind and his show of understanding of the issues are endearing. His history as a top level commercial lawyer, investment banker, policy creator, entrepreneur and business leader are resume needed to be governor of Edo state at this time. Contrast these with that of Monday Okpebholo, who cannot show any record of work and business, who cannot show any history of a valid source of wealth, then the decision ought to be made a lot easier.
The Esan people must beware of the wiles of Adams oshiomhole, who looms like darkness, waiting to take their joy away. Their future surely lies with an Ighodalo Governorship, who will be his own man, not an Okpebholo governorship, who will have a coterie of Edo south and Edo north political hyenas asphyxiating him.
CULLED FROM THE ESSAY “A FERVENT CALL TO THE ESAN SPIRIT OF YORE TO ARISE AND SHINE.” By Daniel A. Noah Osa-Ogbegie, Esq., PNM FCAI
