Monday Okpebholo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the forthcoming Edo State governorship election, continues to be dogged by his alleged inability to speak publicly to the Edo voters, with mostly PDP supporters piling pressure on him to appear on an undisguisedly unfriendly ARISE TV, regarded as the broadcast arm of the opposition party in Nigeria, as a condition precedent to his qualification for the office of the governor.
Critics have termed Okpebholo’s alleged non-public speaking and eloquence to communicate his governance plans to the people of Edo State as signifying a lack of capability, capacity, carriage, cognition exposure, maturity, and popularity.
As Okpebholo shunned the obviously biased bait to lure him to the slaughter, he’s striven lately to prove his political opponents wrong, by speaking forcefully at rallies across Edo State, barely three weeks to September 21. At a campaign stop at Aduwawa area of Benin City, Okpebholo – accompanied by Comrade Oshiomohle, who normally introduces Okpebholo at rallies – fiercely addressed the rallygoers camped out on and around a waterlogged road in the area.
Following Oshiomhole’s lengthy stomp speech, in which he reminded of the alleged failings of the incumbent PDP governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki-led government, around which he’s framed the September election as a referendum, he introduced Okpebholo, saying, “Now, we are bringing somebody who is going to be a practical man. So, this man (patting Okpebholo on the right shoulder) is a simple man” (with applause of ‘yesooo’ from the crowd). His name is Senator Monday Okpebholo, Akpakomiza.”
Taking the microphone, Okpebholo ticked, in some shorthand fashion, his programmes of action, one after the other. “I want to thank you for the interest you have for Edo (State),” he told the cheering and pulsating crowd. “I’m coming to work for you. Why I’m contesting is to make sure that all the injustice done in our land is reversed.”
Pointing to the flooded road and its surroundings, on which the rally held, Okpebholo promised that, “all this road, all these gutters, we will desilt everything. Your schools, we will fix them back. Insecurity will be a thing of the past in our land. Hospitals, we are going to revive our hospitals back, and we will build new hospitals. Agriculture, we are going to provide farmers with fertilisers. Market women, we are going to give you soft loans without interests.”
“We will make sure that our land grows again. We will not steal your money, as they are doing now. They have taken a lot of money out of this land. (The) Obaseki government alone borrowed over N500bn. What did he do with the money? Nothing, nothing to show for it! So, we are coming to serve the people; we are coming to interact with the people; we are coming to solve the people’s problems.”
Okpebholo then addressed head-on the allegation that he can’t speak publicly, stating: “The government of Obaseki, they are liars. They even told you people on social media that I don’t know how to talk. You understand? A Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; a man who could negotiate between (from) Okpella (Edo North) to Benin (Edo South), for the Federal Government to come and do our road (Abuja-Benin Expressway), and the Federal Government put down N130bn, dual-carriage (way), with street lights in the middle, it has never been done.
“A man, who could do that, they are telling you he does not know how to talk. Am I not talking to you? (The crowd responded with ‘Yesooo’). Sisters, am I not talking to you? (‘Yessss, the female rallygoers responded). Brothers, am I not talking to you? (‘Yeah,’ the malefolks roared). They (PDP) are cheaters, they are liars, they are deceivers.”
Momentarily, Okpebholo turned some of the alleged ills of the Obaseki administration into a song, with the enthusiastic crowd refraining after him. He said, “Bye, bye to jedi jedi” (dysentery, in Yoruba language), and the crowd responded accordingly. “Bye, bye to M-O-U” (memorandum of understanding, which critics deploy to depict Obaseki’s alleged non-performance). “Bye, bye to De-cei-vers.”
