Prince Kassim Afegbua, a former Commissioner for Information in Edo state says Governor Monday Okpebholo has brought joy and hope to the people of Edo state since assumption of office.
In a piece titled ‘Akpakomisa – Off to a good start’, Afegbua said Governor Okpebholo has been working assiduosly to rewrite the ugly narratives left behind by his predecessor, Godwin Obaseki.
“Most unassuming, practical and down-to-earth; his looks convey grit that is ordained. His words are measured in tone as mellow as an innocent new breed politician trying to imprint his footprints on a political landscape that had become anathema, because of the inactions of his predecessor. He’s trying to rewrite the ugly narratives of his predecessor; for whom profligacy, high-handedness and political volatility dominated the basis of governance”.
“Governor Monday Okpebholo is unruffled by the happenstances of politics, he has become a phenomenon, a lesson, and is seminal in politics today. With a dulcet voice winnowed from its mix with emotional intelligence and the great strides he has made so far, the governor’s acceptability has risen to a crescendo, across the length and breadth of the state. He has commenced projects that are veritable responses to the yearnings of the people- something of a square socket and square plug relationship. He is quickly delivering on infrastructural development- the underprop for the good life the Edo people deserve. From road construction, to schools renovation, to employment and human capital development, Governor Okpebholo has brought joy and hope to Edo people”.
Afegbua also added that Okpebholo is unfazed by the antics of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Election Petition Tribunal but committed to place Edo on a higher scale far better than what he inherited from his predecessor.
“While the opposition PDP is busy lamenting their woes and using the Tribunal appearances as juice, to sustain their beleaguered followership, Okpebholo is working. Unperturbed by the proceedings at the Tribunal, the governor is very much in a hurry to place Edo at a higher rank than where he met it. Okpebholo’s determination to overhaul governance in the state is evident in the decisions he has taken so far. Projects are ongoing; and yes, even those that were abandoned by his predecessor, and some others that were poorly done, he is re-working. He doesn’t just award contracts, and turns his back; he goes on inspections and project visits. Okpebholo is in a hurry to set up a wheel of growth for the state that will organically attract developmental activities thus moving the state forward”.
“The ongoing Tribunal proceedings have aired PDP’s comic relief in different ways. The PDP witnesses have been displaying an orchestra to woo their expectant supporters and sustain same. They have drifted from the ridiculous to the most reprehensible, unleashing a drama of the absurd as they try to encourage their attenuating supporters not to lose hope in a hopeless situation that was clear on 21 September last year. Their witnesses, often overfed with Eba, Akpu and ngwo-ngwo soup, get to the court room with a gale of contradictory presentations, making the whole exercise of mandate recovery a joke”.
“Okpebholo’s grace has its telling impact on those who worked against him. Some have swallowed their poisonous vomit, others have become his unsolicited megaphone, churning out laudatory speeches day after day to celebrate the man they tried to run aground during the campaigns. The governor sits there unaffected, making clipped brief laconic and clear phrases every now and again, not wanting to waste his time”.
