Edo’ll witness huge devt with Okpebholo as gov –Okonoboh

…says Obaseki made Ighodalo to have ‘collateral enemies’

Dr. Justin Esezobo Okonoboh, is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Edo State, a former speaker Edo State State House of Assembly. In this interview with OJIEVA EHIOSUN, he spoke on the victory of APC in the governorship election, the choice of Senator Monday Okpebholo and Dennis Idahosa, successful inauguration ceremony, and while the new governor will surpass the records of all past governors, Excerpts:

Sir, it’s like you are a prophet because you once predicted that APC was going to win the 2024 governorship election with an overwhelming victory and it came to pass. What extra efforts did APC put in that gave them the victory?
Well it wasn’t really prophetic as such, it was what everybody was saying because before the election, PDP had already collapsed in Edo State. Everybody had moved over to APC. If you check it, all those spearheaded Obaseki’s second coming had all abandoned him. It was clear that there was nothing he could do about it, we were going to win. So when I saw all these things happening, I told you that APC was going to take Edo State.

So many people keep saying that APC took the power by force, that they were not voted for. What’s your take on this?
You know in Nigeria that’s the way it is. When the person they expect to win does not win, it is so all the time. That is why the courts are there. They actually determine whether the election was rigged or not. There was no rigging anywhere, Senator Monday Okpebholo actually won 13 local governments out of 18. In Edo North, it was total, Edo South was shared, in Edo Central he did very well too. So he won overwhelmingly.
There are diverse opinions in Edo State before, during and after the election that Godwin Obaseki was an enemy to all, that Asuelimen Ighodalo came at a wrong time, again that Obaseki deviated from democratic norms.

Do you see Obaseki as a core politician?
Well, that’s the negative aspect of politics, he was becoming an expert by rigging using money and all that. You will notice that three months to the election all that was reigning is Obaseki, he wasn’t the one contesting, but because they believe he was the one bringing Ighodalo, he was the one people were talking about and in that process he created so many enemies, making Ighodalo to have what we call collateral damage.
At a stage, a lot of people were not actually looking at the APC candidate, they just wanted Obaseki to leave that seat, and that kind of a thing affected Ighodalo. I really felt sorry for him. He came into the scene at a very wrong time.
Ighodalo, had a top notch brand, but he followed the wrong person into politics. If he had come alone, he would have gone very far because a lot of people liked him, but people hated Obaseki and made sure PDP did not win.

Now, will you say it was a payback time for Obaseki for deviating from political tenets of carrying people along?
Not only from Adams Oshiomhole, but from all the political big weights that Obaseki had offended. It was actually a payback time for everybody who he had caused political pains, and they all worked assiduously to make sure APC succeeded in the election.

Do you agree that Presidency played a major role in the success of APC?
As President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and number one leader of the party Bola Tinubu must support his party. Look he didn’t even come for the flag-off, it was the Vice President that came. APC actually worked extra hard to earn this victory. In fact it was clear that APC was going to win. He who chases the owner of a house away, will do everything to make nobody lives in that house. So when people that made the PDP great were chased away, you should expect the fall of such a party. So, Obaseki killed PDP by himself.
So it was a clear cut thing. Unfortunately, people don’t understand what elections are; election is not to produce the best candidate, election is to produce those that have more votes. So when somebody loses, people think is INEC; no, INEC is an umpire, a lot of people are gathered, they cast their votes and INEC gathers them, counts and announces the votes scored by each person and then declares the winner. But most people, anytime they expect a person to win and he or she does not, the next thing is that the election is rigged. It doesn’t work like that. So, in this scenario, people voted for Senator Monday Okpebholo and he won. People should learn to accept results like good sports people.

Observers say there was too much vote buying or what do we call it?
I don’t call it vote buying, as a politician, you induce people to vote for you. It is done all over the world.
We are in tough times, people are looking for food to eat, the country is going through hard times, a lot of people are hungry and angry, so anything you can do to influence them, do it. The APC governorship candidate before the election was busy tarring roads, constructing boreholes, giving scholarship to students, paying schools fees for children from less privileged homes, and doing all kinds of humanitarian and social service activities. All this contributed to our success in the election. Okpebholo is a complete home boy, he knows the people and the people know him. He won the election and won convincingly.

You witnessed the inauguration ceremony of the new governor on the November 12, 2024, at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium; judging from what you saw and his speech, do you see the governor as a pushover?
Performance has nothing to do with eloquence, Okpebholo that I know is an action man with high level of political experience. He has worked under great politicians, he knows what democracy is all about. You can see he has swung into action. Edo people are going to be shocked with the level of infrastructural development they will see.
For the inauguration, it was a grand ceremony to usher in new era in Edo State. I was excited with the kinds of personalities and crowd that graced the occasion.

What do you say to Edo people?
Edo people must be patient, give him maximum support, join hands with him to ensure we have a prosperous state, now that we have a governor that is focused, resilient, intelligent, politically conscious and above all someone that has the masses at heart. Edo people will experience a big change in development.