The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Edo State branch has charged Senator Monday Okpebholo, the governorship candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC), with putting on a desperate front to deceive President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
PDP Caretaker Committee Publicity Secretary Chris Osa Nehikhare called the meeting at Government House’s Festival Hall a disgraceful attempt to invent PDP defections in a statement released on Tuesday.
Okpebholo gathered imposters and portrayed them as elected PDP Local Government Council Chairmen defecting to the APC, according to Nehikhare.
“For the record, no PDP chairman has defected,” Nehikhare said. “The people paraded are illegal appointees of Okpebholo; political stooges with no mandate or legitimacy.”
He accused Okpebholo of trying to deceive the President and the APC leadership into believing he still holds political ground in Edo.
“This is a desperate play for presidential approval ahead of the judicial verdicts on the mandate we believe he stole,” Nehikhare declared. “We urge President Tinubu and all Nigerians not to be deceived by these charlatans. What happened today was not politics, it was a content creation stunt for social media. Okpebholo seems ready for a career as a TikToker once his brief and illegitimate stint as governor ends.”
In addition, the PDP published a picture of all of its council chairs together, reiterating their party devotion. As both parties await the resolution of a legal dispute over the governorship election, the drama unfolds.
The PDP asserts that the case is currently in court and issues a warning that stagecraft won’t alter the facts. Okpebholo and his media staff had not yet responded as of the time of publication.