…Says, its reckless misappropriation of state resources
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Edo State chapter has alarm over what it described as a ploy by Governor Monday Okpebholo to induce each member of the State House of Assembly elected on its platform with N200 million to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The PDP while condemning in the strongest terms Senator Okpebholo’s desperate plans to squander the resources of the State on political horse-trading for his own survival, said that there are critical sectors of the state that are in dire need of government intervention.
It stressed that the executive rascality by Governor Okpebholo is at its peak, adding that the brazen act of corruption and reckless misplacement of priorities is shameful and unacceptable.
A statement on Wednesday, March 6, 2025 by Chris Osa Nehikhare, State Publicity Secretary of the Edo State PDP Caretaker Committee, noted that in the last few weeks alone, at least 34 innocent Edo citizens have been brutally murdered across various communities in the state as a result of rising insecurity just as property worth millions of naira have been destroyed on the back of the ongoing security crisis.
According to Nehikhare; “Small and large-scale farmers are being displaced daily, more communities are being sacked by rampaging kidnappers and herders, while others, including the city centre is being overrun by non-state actors, leaving residents in fear and economic activities disrupted.
“The state is currently (sic) grappling with severe infrastructure decay due to neglect. The health sector is in shambles, with hospitals and clinics lacking essential medical supplies, including the Edo Specialist Hospital, where even the most basic consumables are unavailable.
“More youths now look up to thugs as role models because the government has failed to provide meaningful opportunities for their engagement.
“Unfortunately, amidst all these challenges, Okpebholo’s only concern is his political survival, as he schemes, along with his many political godfathers, to squander billions of naira that should be used to improve the lives of Edo people, on inducing Assembly members to defect to the APC,” it said.
The PDP said that it not however surprised by Okpebholo’s insatiable appetite for power at the expense of development and security of the State, having come to office unprepared through the backdoor via an election that was widely considered the most flawed and manipulated in the history of Nigeria and whose outcome is keenly contested in court.
The PDP therefore called on all well-meaning Edo people, civil society groups, and anti-corruption agencies to rise against this abuse of power and reckless misappropriation of state resources.
It further said; “We want to restate that as a party, we are undaunted by the evil machinations of Senator Okpebholo and the APC as we remain the popular party in the State”.
