Since his controversial inauguration as Governor of Edo State in November 2024, Senator Monday Okpebholo has turned the Government House in Benin City into a theatre of absurdity, petty vendetta, and dangerous threats, and embarrassing public outbursts.
Many Edo people and neutral observers now agree: President Bola Tinubu may have handed his party the governorship on a platter, but the man currently occupying the seat is proving every single day that he is grossly unprepared, temperamentally unstable, and dangerously intoxicated with power.
- The Obsession with Godwin Obaseki
Unlike almost every former governor in Nigeria who tries to remotely control his successor (think Akeredo and Ambode, Wike and Fubara, Ganduje and Yusuf), immediate past governor Godwin Obaseki has maintained a dignified silence and completely stayed away from Edo politics since handing over power.
Yet Governor Okpebholo cannot spend one week without throwing childish jabs at Obaseki.
From threatening civil servants who are perceived to be “Obaseki loyalists,” to the laughable directive that anyone coming to Government House must wear “Tinubu mandate caps and clothes,” to the recent viral video where market women were forced to wear APC-branded attire before they could see the governor, Okpebholo’s actions scream insecurity and inferiority complex.
- The Controversial Supreme Court Judgment
Let us not pretend: Monday Okpebholo and the APC know, PDP knows, INEC knows, and most importantly, the Edo electorate know that the September 21, 2024 governorship election was fiercely contested.
Asue Ighodalo and the PDP won the popular vote in the minds of many observers. It took a split 4-3 Supreme Court decision in 2025, with very controversial reasoning from the minority justices, for Okpebholo to be declared governor.
Instead of using the opportunity to unite the state and prove his critics wrong with performance, Okpebholo has chosen the path of arrogance, intimidation, and reckless statements, behaving as if the judiciary “gave” him the state on a platter and he can do whatever he likes.
- The Dangerous “I Will Resign if Tinubu Doesn’t Win Edo in 2027” Statement
In one of the most irresponsible statements ever made by a sitting Nigerian governor, Okpebholo publicly swore that if President Tinubu and APC do not win Edo State in the 2027 presidential election, he will resign as governor.
This is political madness on steroids.He is literally turning the entire state machinery into a campaign tool for 2027, three years before the election.
He is telling Edo people that his loyalty is to Tinubu, not to the people who are suffering from hunger and hardship.
He is putting unnecessary pressure on INEC, security agencies, and even the judiciary ahead of 2027.
This kind of statement alone should worry President Tinubu.
A governor who ties his own political survival to the president’s re-election in one state is capable of doing anything, including rigging, violence, or misuse of state resources, just to “deliver” Edo in 2027.
- Lack of Education and Public Communication Skills on Display
It is now an open secret that Governor Monday Okpebholo struggles seriously with public speaking and basic grammar, even in English.
From mixing up “allocation” with “education,” to saying “Edo people are happy for me that I am now governoring them,” the gaffes are endless and painful.
While no one should be mocked for not being fluent in English, there is a minimum expectation of intelligence, composure, and clarity for the office of governor.
When you add the threats, the obsession with Obaseki, the mandate clothes, and the 2027 resignation oath, it becomes clear: Edo State currently has a governor who is clearly overwhelmed by the office.
President Tinubu Needs to Caution Okpebholo Urgently
If President Bola Tinubu does not call Monday Okpebholo to order now, the governor will do irreparable damage to APC’s chances in Edo State come 2027 and 2028.
The more Okpebholo threatens, boasts, and embarrasses himself publicly, the more Edo people, who already feel robbed of their mandate in 2024, will turn against APC with venom.
A word is enough for the wise.
Edo is not Lagos. You don’t win elections here by force, intimidation, or mandate caps. You win by performance and respect for the people.
Governor Monday Okpebholo is going dangerously wrong, and someone in Abuja needs to tell him before he sets the entire state on fire out of over-excitement and ignorance.
Written by
Concerned Edo Son/Daughter in Diaspora
(A proud Edo indigene who can no longer watch in silence)
