Tensions flared in Edo State on Thursday as the state government and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) exchanged verbal blows over accusations labelling Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration as “transactional.”
Speaking at the grand finale of the Edo Central Senatorial District campaign held in Ekpoma, Esan Central Local Government Area, the governor, Monday Okpebholo, criticised Obaseki’s leadership. He accused the administration of lacking genuine interest in the development of the state.
“You see, because of what we are doing in Edo State, the people are asking, where were these funds? Let me tell you, Obaseki and the PDP were never interested in developing our state.
“They were not interested in our people. They were purely transactional people,” Okpebholo declared during the rally.
In swift response, the PDP, through its State Publicity Secretary, Chris Nehikhare, fired back, urging Edo residents to disregard both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Governor Okpebholo’s remarks. Nehikhare accused the APC of presiding over a failed system and using propaganda to mislead the public.
“Well, I think Edo people should be wiser by now. This is a government that came into being one way or the other without the vote of the people,” Nehikhare said.
He further criticised the current administration’s repeated references to President Bola Tinubu as a form of empty politicking rather than substance. “The governor’s only campaign slogan is how Tinubu loves Edo, and how he has been the best thing since sliced bread.
“None of the federal roads in Edo has been worked on. It takes five hours to move from Benin to Sapele, wasting so much time in Ologbo. Benin-Agbor road, Benin-Abraka road is also bad,” he noted.
Nehikhare accused the APC of attempting to separate itself from the failures of the federal government it leads, despite sharing the same political structure.
“They have been talking about Tinubu bringing development to Edo and trying to distance themselves from the APC government at the centre, but it is the same government since 2015 that has been riddled with failure and incompetence, and that is what Edo is now falling into,” he said.
“When the PDP was in government in Edo State, there was competency in it. But when the APC government came, all they talked about was Tinubu.
“They do nothing—it’s all about propaganda, confusion, thuggery, destruction all in one, and we hope Edo people are taking note of these for the day of reckoning,” he concluded.
