Outgoing Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, must be raging in anger. A few days after the Candidate of his Political Party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, lost the Governorship seat to the All Progressive Congress, APC, Candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, in a still- disputed, controversial election, Obaseki is facing abandonment by a couple of people who were his political allies.
Top on the list is, allegedly, the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku.
In the face of the disputed September 21, 2024, Governorship result which the PDP and not a few people and groups claim was won by the PDP, the Speaker has embraced the result as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and embraced Okpebholo.
Recall that the PDP, from the National to the State level, and even the State Governor and Government, rejected the result, and are headed to Court. The Governorship Candidate, Ighodalo, described the election which threw up Okpebholo as the worst in Nigeria’s history. They are all headed to Court to challenge the outcome. But, pending that, the Speaker thinks otherwise.
Monday-Okpebholo
In a surprise move, Speaker Agbebaku sent a congratulatory message to the Governor-elect in defiance of the stand of his Party, the PDP.
In the congratulatory message, he advised Okpebholo to be wary of sycophants.
Okpebholo, according to the results declared by INEC, defeated Ighodalo by scoring 291,667 votes as against 247,274 votes.
Congratulating Okpebholo at plenary on Wednesday, the Speaker acknowledged him as Governor-elect. He said: “The governor-elect is for Edo people and not for the All Progressives Congress alone and I prayed that sycophants do not mislead him.”
The Speaker lost his Constituency, Owan West to the APC which polled 12,277 to PDP’s 11,284 votes.
The Agbebaku-led House of Assembly has also just recalled two members of the State House of Assembly who have been on suspension in the past four months.
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