Governor Godwin Obaseki’s Live Chat: A Three-Part Response to the Issues - By Bugie Okhuemoi

 

Part 1: Narratives, Security, and Disconnected Governance

Good day, Your Excellency, Sir. 

As someone privileged to play a key role in presenting the narratives of governance in Edo State, and even more, as a citizen who lived through your eight-year tenure, I have often pondered a question: What does the former governor have to say about the mounting evidence of disservice to the Edo people through the actions of his administration? This question became even more pressing with the recent conversations surrounding the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA).

It was therefore refreshing to learn that you had chosen to share your side of the story during a live online chat. I listened for over an hour and a half, and within the first few minutes, I knew there would be much to respond to.

Your Excellency, I must admit that hearing your familiar accent and polished English triggered memories. Sadly, it no longer carried the effect it once did in the early days of your tenure when we associated it with expertise, commitment, and integrity. Years later, we have learned that an American accent does not translate to performance, truth, or tangible results.

Another aspect of your engagement struck me with... a subtle feeling of ‘pity’ (for lack of a better word). Seeing a former governor addressing his people from abroad in that setting evoked the impression of someone in hiding and unable to return home because he is running from something. The environment, video quality, camera angle, and posture all contributed to that perception.

It was good to hear you say you’ve spent the last year attending to your health, completing a fellowship at Oxford, and preparing your memoirs. As an enthusiast of biographies and memoirs, I welcome this project wholeheartedly. My only concern with such literature is always the same: Will it contain truths? Will the narrative be factual? I sincerely hope so, because the world deserves to know the truth. And please, rest assured that any untruths will be met with responses and with proof from those involved. Holes punctured in your narrative with hard evidence will do much worse damage to what your reputation is today.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at your host’s attempt to create a false sense of grandeur by suggesting that “all the new government and everyone is talking about is Obaseki.” It is common wisdom that leaders are advised not to rely solely on what supporters feed them. Your Excellency, you are not the subject of public conversation in the way you are being led to believe. When your name comes up, it is most often in reference to the revelations of the several actions you took that showed how unimpactful and disconnected your administration was from the realities and interests of ordinary Edo people. Do not be carried away by that manufactured relevance.

You expressed an expectation that this government would “build on your work.” The fundamental truth is that you and Governor Monday Okpebholo operate with entirely different principles, vision, and ideology. Governor Okpebholo’s ‘Edo First’ creed makes it impossible to build on foundations laid with deception, illusions, self-interest, and initiatives that did not genuinely protect or advance Edo’s interest.

For the ideas you conceived that were genuinely good, but delivered under questionable circumstances, this administration is adopting, cleaning up, infusing with Edo interest, and finishing properly. Some of the road projects you started are being completed. The Education Hub is being finished. The Stella Obasanjo Hospital, which you commissioned at barely 50% completion, is now being taken to full delivery, and your outstanding debt of over ₦7 billion is being settled.

However, projects initiated under dubious and shameful contractual arrangements, designed to enrich your corporate cabal, weighed down by inflated contract sums, consultancy fees and kickbacks, and fully controlled by profit-driven private interests, are fundamentally incompatible with Senator Okpebholo’s ethos. Those will not be continued. Instead, the governor is charting a new course to deliver solutions that serve the people, not corporate pockets.

It was shocking to hear you discuss insecurity and attempt to falsely portray a breakdown of security in today’s Edo compared to your tenure. I think it is necessary to refresh our collective memory.

You said you “tried your best to protect everybody.” Your Excellency, you could not even protect your own party chairman, who was kidnapped at his gate in the GRA and forced to pay ransom. Urban crime was at an all-time high during your tenure. Kidnappings within Benin City were rampant.

In February 2022, six people, including two policemen, were killed as armed robbers held Uromi hostage for hours, robbing banks. Bank robberies were frequent: in Akoko-Edo in 2018, and an attempted attack on the CBN in 2019. Under your watch, 32 citizens were kidnapped from a train station in Igueben, Edo Central. It got so bad that our mothers and sisters protested in the streets, unable to access their farms.

Your Excellency, you did not do such a fantastic job on security. It was during your tenure that Edo gained the unfortunate reputation as the home base of rampant cultism. Cult clashes and killings were persistent, with over 300 lives lost. Your response was to distribute rickety Sienna vehicles to security agencies while deploying an untrained, illegally armed outfit (ESSN) that became political hatchet men used to settle scores and oppress citizens.

As a former governor, you should be charitable enough to acknowledge that security requires continuous management, and to commend genuine ongoing efforts. Today, under Governor Okpebholo, the scourge of cultism has been largely eradicated through real courage, community-based enforcement strategies, effective and relevant support to security agencies, and dedicated work, not empty rhetoric. The primary security challenge now is rural banditry in specific locations, and it is being addressed head-on.

You also mentioned “installing fibre optic cables to villages” as a landmark project. While the idea itself is laudable, it highlights the stark contrast between your governance style and Governor Okpebholo’s.

While being an ICT professional, Governor Okpebholo understands that certain foundational needs of the people and communities must be addressed before such interventions become useful. A welfare-inclined leader like Okpebholo prioritizes electricity, decent school environments, needed infrastructure, security, and food security - far more pressing needs for rural communities than fibre optic cables.

It is now clear from records that many of these outlandish projects were primarily conceptualized for corporate capture of state resources and the enrichment of your Lagos consultants. They provided no real value to ordinary people. Meanwhile, billions of naira were spent on such  preposterous projects while pensioners went unpaid, illegally disengaged academic staff cried for their entitlements, children studied under open roofs, and schools had no security, water, or motorable roads.

Leadership is not about imposing what you think the people want. It is about providing what they need. Only true connection with the people reveals that. You were not connected. You were full of lofty, eccentric ideas that enriched your corporate friends while ignoring the pressing realities of Edo citizens. This disconnect is exactly what Governor Monday Okpebholo is now repairing through a practical, transparent, home-grown, and people-centered approach.

[End of Part 1. Part 2 will address your remarks on the MoWAA project, fiscal management, and the Central Hospital issue.]

Bugie Okhuemoi is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo