Reuben Abati, a veteran journalist and former Senior Adviser on Media and Publicity to former President Goodluck Jonathan has said the people of Edo State should live with their Governor, Monday Okpebholo, for the next four years.

Abati, the lead anchor of the popular Arise TV breakfast talk show, Morning Show made this remark on Wednesday, December 11 after the governor was caught in a mix of confusion during his presentation of the 2025 budget to the State House of Assembly on Tuesday.

New Telegraph had earlier reported that Okpebholo struggled with the pronunciation of the budget’s numerical value.

While discussing the ‘What’s Trending’ segment on the TV programme, Abati said the development could be likened to “what Edo people ordered versus what they were given.”

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He said: “Well, I sympathize with the people of Edo State. The state that produced Professor Ambrose Ali, the state that produced my former teacher, Professor Osarime Osunbor, has now produced an individual who cannot even pronounce N650 million, finding it very difficult.

“I don’t understand this argument about being dyslexic and all of that. Well, it has to be medically proven. I think that what we are suspecting here is a question of ‘what Edo people ordered and what they were given.’

“You know they do this thing on social media—’ what I ordered, what I got.’ This is a state that has Asue Ighodalo, who has been chairman of a bank, who knows about numbers, who knows about the law, you know, who would have pronounced it very well.

“Now, democracy throws up its own tricks. This is what Edo State people said they had ordered. Let them live with it for the next four years.”