Monday Okpebholo: The Governor Who Broke Edo’s Cycle of Favoritism

By Saintmoses Eromosele (Executive Director, ONEGHE SELE FOUNDATION)

Every few years, Edo gets a new governor, and with it comes a predictable choir of wailers chanting the same tired refrain: “The governor is favouring his people!” They sang it when Adams Oshiomhole ruled from Edo North. They crooned it louder when Godwin Obaseki entrenched himself in Edo South. And now, with Monday Okpebholo barely warming his chair, they have dusted off the same accusations, this time dressing them up as “Esan Agenda bias.” But unlike before, this lie collapses under the cold weight of fact.

The principle of federalism is clear: every unit is equal, regardless of size or population. That is why Borno State, sprawling at 70,898 square kilometres, the second largest in Nigeria, has just three senators. Edo, modest at 19,559 square kilometres, less than one third the population of Borno State, also has three senators. Kogi, with 29,833 square kilometres, has the same three senators as tiny Abia, Imo or Ebonyi in the South East. Equality of units, not equality of landmass or population. Edo mirrors this same federal balance. Three senatorial districts—North, South, Central—equal partners in representation and in claim to power. When power rotates, it is not charity. It is equity. And the zone that receives it has every right to focus on its peculiar deficits.

The record speaks for itself. Oshiomhole, from Edo North, spent his turn building roads into his villages and stacking appointments to consolidate his zone. Nobody called that favoritism—it was his right. Obaseki, from Edo South, ring-fenced Benin City with projects and appointments. SSG, Chief of Staff, Head of Service, powerful commissioners—all South. Nobody shouted bias then either. Now Okpebholo, from Edo Central, who by right should be pouring concrete into every centimeter of Esanland, reviving Uwesan farms, fixing Ubiaja and Uromi’s roads, expanding Ewu cassava and groundnut farms, promoting Ekpoma and Igueben’s urbanization drive, and restoring Irrua’s water schemes, has instead chosen a different path. He has chosen balance. He has chosen inclusiveness. He has chosen equity. His Deputy Governor is from Edo South. His Chief of Staff, Gani Audu, is from Edo North. His Head of Service is from Edo South. Only his SSG is from Edo Central. He backed Edo South to be CMD of UBTH, one of the biggest health facilities in Africa, he backed Edo South to be MD of New Edo Line, he backed Edo North to be CMD of National Orthopaedic Hospital in Edo State. His commissioners are spread across all three zones. For the first time in recent Edo history, every senatorial district has a genuine stake at the table. In the voice of Egogo, one is tempted to echo the philosophical phrase; “Una nor go thank Governor?”

And yet, here’s the irony: the heaviest projects under his administration so far are not in Esanland at all, but in Edo South. The Benin Flyover projects, dwarfing everything else in scale and cost, are all in Edo South. The two-billion-naira plus pledge for a new Paediatric Ward at UBTH is in Edo South. If even half of that amount were pumped into Esanland, most of the bad roads in Irrua and Uromi would already be fixed. The completion of the Ekenhuan Road to the river, another major project, is in Edo South. So let’s drop the charade: if there is a zone receiving disproportionate largesse today, it is not Esan, but South. The facts mock the false narrative of “Esan Agenda bias” and expose it as nothing more than malicious propaganda peddled by people who are not okay in the UK.
But facts don’t stop opportunists. A certain asylum seeker in the UK by name Albert Obazee is broadcasting bile from the UK. This is the same man who publicly disrespects the revered Oba of Benin on social media, now presuming to lecture Edo people about unity. A man who doesn’t queue for fuel in Benin, doesn’t fetch water in Auchi, doesn’t farm cassava in Eidenu and Ewu like this writer. A man with no skin in the game, no stake in the struggle, no touch with reality. His only harvest is division, his only investment is lies, and his only market is discord. Edo people must treat his rantings with the contempt they deserve—background noise from a mentally challenged man who abandoned the field yet wants to dictate the play.

Here is the real story. Monday Okpebholo has broken with Edo’s tradition of indulgence. He has refused to repeat Oshiomhole’s North-first politics or Obaseki’s South-first politics. He has given each senatorial zone a meaningful seat at the table. He has balanced power deliberately across North, South, and Central. And still, he is delivering massive projects in Edo South that dwarf what Esan has received. This is not favoritism. This is fairness. This is inclusiveness. This is a governor who understands that leadership is not a family inheritance but a collective responsibility. This is one of the seven reasons why this writer who hitherto criticised the Governor did a 360 degree turn around, like Saul who became Paul, after seeing the light in Okpebholo governance.
And let us not forget: the whole point of power rotation is to allow neglected zones to breathe. Edo Central has been historically deprived since Prof Osereime Osunbor was booted out of power. Its roads are craters, its water schemes are dead, its farms abandoned, its power epileptic. Its cities are kept rural. For Okpebholo to focus on reviving Esanland would not just be justified—it would be demanded. That is why Edo Central fought for the governorship in the first place. That is what the Esan Agenda truly signifies. To call that bias is to misunderstand the very logic of equity.

The critics can keep wailing. But Edo people can see the truth with their eyes. They can drive on the flyovers in Benin. They can watch the cranes at UBTH. They can trace the asphalt on Ekenhuan Road. And they can also see that their governor has built a government that reflects the tripod of Edo’s identity. Here is the soundbite: Monday Okpebholo is the governor who broke Edo’s cycle of favoritism. He has refused indulgence. He has chosen balance. He has made equity a living principle. And the people trying to demonize him are not only wrong—they are irrelevant.

Edo Central is an equal federating partner in the Edo State tripodal structure. When Edo Central is transformed, Edo State itself is transformed. That is the truth. That is the logic. And that is the path Monday Okpebholo has chosen. Let him govern in peace. Let the hired mourners sing themselves hoarse. Edo has moved on. And Edo, truly, is shining. Make we thank Governor!

Saintmoses Eromosele writes from his cassava farms in Eidenu and Ewu.