Senator Adams Oshiomhole of Edo North, according to Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo, is not a tyrant as some of his critics have claimed.
Instead, the governor stated, the federal lawmaker permits the state to manage its business independently. He also denied rumors that he was personally chosen by some godfathers to serve as governor of Edo.
“Even the man that they say is a dictator is not dictating anything; I am seeing a different Oshiomhole. Oshiomhole is giving me a free hand,” Okpebholo said.
“Whenever I want to talk to him, he will say: ‘My son, I know how you feel, just do it your way’. But I will say: ‘Sir, I won’t do it in my way, please advise me,’ and he advises me, and most of the advice comes out to be something positive. You cannot be an island; you have to carry everybody along.”
In addition, Okpebholo denied rumors that some godfathers personally selected him to be remotely controlled as the South-South state’s top citizen.
He said that only specific people helped him achieve his goal of becoming governor and putting him in power.
“Can you even point out one godfather who was pushing me?” the governor queried when asked about his political lineage on the programme.
“God was using people to help me, to support me, to get to where I am today.”
In the September 21, 2024, Edo gubernatorial election, Okpebholo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), defeated Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) and Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), among others.
Following Godwin Obaseki of the PDP’s eight-year rule, he was sworn in as governor on November 12, 2024. It wasn’t a perfect trek from Okpebholo to the Dennis Osadebe Government House.
Notably, Okpebholo, a former senator from Edo Central, used some of his connections in his senatorial area and teamed up with Oshiomhole to defeat Ighodalo, the then-outgoing governor’s designated nominee.
Okpebholo’s association with Obaseki’s estranged former deputy, Philip Shaibu, and his then-running companion, Dennis Idahosa, a federal politician, may also have contributed to his victory.
After Obaseki left the APC for the PDP in 2020 amid internal strife and animosity with his predecessor, Oshiomhole, the party lost support in the state. Obaseki joined the PDP after being rejected for the APC governorship ticket, and he won the ticket to defeat Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the APC to complete his second term, which concluded on November 12, 2024.
While Oshiomhole was a key player in Okpebholo’s campaign, holding rallies and interviews on behalf of the APC candidate, Obaseki vigorously supported Ighodalo.
