Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has dismissed claims that godfathers handpicked him to be remote-controlled as the number one citizen of the South-South state.
According to him, Almighty God only used certain persons to support his governorship ambition and get him into office.
“Can you even point out one godfather who was pushing me?” the governor queried when asked about his political lineage on a live television programme on Thursday.
“God was using people to help me, to support me, to get to where I am today,” he said.
The governor also said Senate President Godswill Akpabio supported him as the leader of the ruling party in the South-South.
“Senate President is the leader from the South-South. Whatever he did was for the progress of Edo people; he wanted Edo to be repositioned.
“God was at work, Edo people spoke. We were hungry for a change. Even in the next 20 years, I will win. Do you know when I won my Senate (seat) there was a sitting senator? At that time, everything was working against us, but yet we won.
“I’m proud to tell you that there is not much opposition in Edo State – many of them know the truth, and many of them secretly voted for me while they were still in PDP because of what they would get from Obaseki; they were not interested in (his government),” he said.
He also said Edo North Senator, Adams Oshiomhole, is not a dictator as some of his detractors have described him.
Rather, the governor said, the federal lawmaker allows him to handle the affairs of the state without interference.
“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.
“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.”
Okpebholo, the All Progressives Congress candidate, defeated Asue Ighodalo of the People’s Democratic Party and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party, among others, to win the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State.
He was later sworn in as governor on November 12, 2024, after the eight-year reign of Godwin Obaseki of the PDP.
Okpebholo’s walk to the Dennis Osadebe Government House was not all rosy.
Significantly, Okpebholo, who was formerly Edo Central Senator, leveraged some influence in his senatorial district and joined forces with Oshiomhole to defeat Ighodalo, the anointed candidate of the then-outgoing governor.
Okpebholo’s victory could also be attributed to his alliance with Dennis Idahosa, his then running mate who was a federal lawmaker, and Obaseki’s estranged former deputy, Philip Shaibu.
The APC lost power in the state in 2020 after Obaseki defected from the party to the PDP in the heat of an intra-party squabble and fallout with his predecessor, Oshiomhole.
After he was denied the APC governorship ticket, Obaseki joined the PDP and clinched the ticket to defeat APC’s Osagie Ize-Iyamu to seal his second term, which ended on November 12, 2024.
Obaseki campaigned strongly for Ighodalo, while Oshiomhole was a focal figure for Okpebholo’s campaign, attending rallies and interviews on behalf of the APC candidate.
