Edo PDP slams Governor Monday Okpebholo for squandering public funds on political events while neglecting governance. The party alleges the governor is staging lavish jamborees to impress President Tinubu and influence the Supreme Court ahead of the 2024 guber poll verdict. They demand immediate focus on real governance, not theatrics.
July 4, 2025
Press Release
..Stop Squandering Edo People’s Resources on Political Jamborees
..you cannot hoodwink President, Supreme Court into validating 2024 guber poll heist
It is quite appalling, disappointing, and most irrational that Senator Monday Okpebholo, who has been junketing across the country and beyond in search of loans to fund basic government operations, has now turned Edo State into a theatre of political jamborees, wasting billions of naira in taxpayers’ money daily on hollow, self-serving political gatherings.
Barely days after squandering billions of scarce public funds to host All Progressives Congress (APC) governors in Benin City, Okpebholo, in the latest of his series of waste, is set to lavish another huge sums of money in hosting APC leaders for a “South-South Summit,” again funded with taxpayers’ money.
All these needless jamboree and extravagance are happening while critical sectors like health, education, and infrastructure are grossly neglected, when there are no visible projects by his government, no real governance taking place in the State and while the people continue to suffer from his government’s maladministration.
To say the least, this is not only reckless and condemnable, but an affirmation that Okpebholo is a politician completely out of his depth and with zero commitment to the welfare of the people.
Or how else does one explain that a governor who has been begging for loans to keep his government afloat, is expending billions of scarce resources to host back-to-back political jamborees and carnivals with no impact whatsoever on the people, except for his desperate selfish interest?
It is however not surprising coming from a politician who came into office through the backdoor via an election that is adjudged one of the most fraudulent and manipulated since Nigeria’s democracy.
We are fully aware that the underlying motive behind these endless political jamborees is to curry favour with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, especially as the Supreme Court prepares to deliver its judgment on the 2024 gubernatorial election.
Okpebholo and his cronies are desperately staging these events, recklessly wasting billions of tax payers monies to create a false impression of popularity and political relevance as part of a calculated ploy to blackmail both President Tinubu and the judiciary, while painting themselves as emissaries of the President in order to influence, pressure, or preempt a favourable judgment from the Supreme Court.
While we are however confident that President Tinubu and the judiciary cannot be deceived by these charades, we urge Okpebholo to focus on governance and refrain from cheap politics of self and theatrical deception.
Chris Osa Nehikhare,
Publicity Secretary,
Edo PDP Caretaker Committee
