By Amb. Barr. Sifawu, Inu-Umoru Momoh
Since the nation’s return to democratic rule in 1999, no political party has proved to be propaganda savvy like the All Progressives Congress in the history of Nigeria. It worked perfectly for the managers of the party during the President Buhari’s election campaign in 2015, manned by an old fox who understood the campaign for his last engagement in the public domain, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. But very paradoxically, the Edo State Chapter of the party, wore the garb of the same methodology in the Governorship election of 2020, but considering the level of readiness and unparalleled awareness instituted by the pdp, the propaganda style of manipulating the voters against their choice failed, leaving the APC in an utter hopelessness.
It is painful and shameful to perceive that in the 2024 Governorship election again, in Edo State, the only weapon the APC has in its armory is still propaganda- an old weapon like the bow and arrow that can’t secure victory in a battle where the invention of atomic bomb has taken the front seat, with almost the same transducers. This is why unlike many others, I wasn’t surprised when I saw the candidate of the APC Senator Monday Okpebholo inside an erosion water, struggling to create a content that was largely hilarious to the Edo Populace. This was extremely poor and evident that the APC is yet to erect a structure capable of qualifying it to participate in the Governorship election of September 21, 2024
It is crystal clear that Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole was right when he said it was Rt. Hon. Idahosa Dennis that will fly the APC flag in the Edo Governorship election and not Monday Okpebholo. Monday Okpebholo to be frank, has with his manhood, satisfy the curiosity of the Edo people that he’s a misfit, ill-equipped, completely ignorant of the exotic office he’s vying for. Worst case is the party’s overlord Jarrett Tenebe who has tied a rope on Okpebholo’s neck, drawing him to an erosion site, to further prove to Edo people, that the APC has no electable candidate for an office as demanding as a State’s Governor.
But if you ask me, even if the ticket was ceded to Dennis Idahosa, what significant difference would he have made, what impact, what grace and charms would he have brought into the stage and what magical powers would he have venerated to hold the candle up to Dr. Asue Ighodalo?, I have continued to interact with APC brass hats and stalwarts, many of them know that they’re running with a flat tyre in the race to Edo Government House. The combination of Okpebholo and Idahosa at all, even without winning the election, has reduced the sterling reputation of the Edo people in the eyes of the rest of the States.It shows that the APC with conscious efforts want to tarnish the enviable image of Edo- a state prided with astuteness, brilliancy and uncommon ingenuity as demonstrated by the late sages like Anthony Enahoro, Michael Imoudu, Chief Anthony Anenih and other immortals of history, will now be governed by people without elementary knowledge to convert numbers into base? the attempt to do so at all is an anathema.
Moreso, I am compelled to talk about John Mayaki -an audacious propagandist, but sincerely, there is no controversy that the APC has not given absolute power of a Media directorate to the Akoko-Edo born kamikaze journalist, because I know if he was consulted before the aquatic Okpebholo let out the erosion video, Mayaki would not had allowed it, which shows a lacuna in the Party’s organization and image management,lending hands to zero readiness for election.
Conversely, let us even say Monday Okpebholo was not led into the erosion water barefooted by the party’s poor Managers, does he not know that the erosion water has bacterial infections and as such, it’s a risk to his health to go into it without protecting his feet?, does it mean that he’s so intemperate that there is absolutely nothing he knows how to do himself?, then, it means only Adams Oshiomhole truly knew him, prior to the APC primary election,hence his insistence that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday can be the next Governor of Edo State,but certainly, not Monday, whose saw name is Okpebholo.
What message could he even pass while inside the contaminated erosion water ?, ” river GRA, river Asue,river Obaseki, our vehicle cannot pass, that is why we use leg come-out! – a wanna be Edo State Governor?. No no no. Not in this generation will such an abomination be committed.
Leadership is beyond intrisic qualities, it bothers hugely on comportment, composure, carriage, dexterity and showmanship. For the active politicians, they know that Dr. Asue Ighodalo has been within the Edo State political Kremlin for the past unabated 16 years, dating from the reign of Adams Oshiomhole,to the outgoing administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki and in the last 8, years, no one can tell where Senator Monday Okpebholo was in the political equation of Edo State.
There is an extent to which one’s luck can carry him in life, it’s not applicable to every facet of human endeavors, and if by sheer luck, or happenstance the Senatorial seat of Edo Central was gifted to Okpebholo in 2023, where he reserves the liberty to remain silent and make more money, someone close to him should advise him that the position of an executive Governor of a state is not for experiment, because, he’s far below an apprentice politically, without even identifying the fact that he’s a certified greenhorn – an unsavory man with absolutely nothing to feel, nothing to think or fascinate, except overbearing incompetence and public display of ignominy. He should enjoy the proceeds of his present Senate gift and stop chasing what will not be part of his achievements in life. I agree I am not his God, but it is to the public knowledge that Okpebholo can’t govern a State.
