"Out of hatred for cockroach the ants voted for the insecticides. They all died, including the housefly that didn't even vote"
This is the current reality of Edo state and let me quickly summarise how they found themselves in this mess.
The former Governor of the state Godwin Obaseki, garner alot of political enemies during his tenure as governor including his predecessor senator Adams Oshiomole,the royal palace and his Deputy governor Philip Shaibu who once stood by him during his fiasco with Oshiomole was not spared.
Obaseki wanted power to return to Edo central senatorial District, his argument was that since 1999, Edo south(the Benin) has governed the state for 16 years, Edo North(Afemai) has governed the state for 8 years while the Edo central(Esan) has only governed for 2 years.
Majority bought the logic and Obaseki gave the party Ticket to Asuen Ighodaro, an associate, a lawyer and a technocrat just like him, Oshiomole wanted the ticket to go Edo south again, he picked the Dennis(current Deputy governor) however Okpebholo kept pursing the Obaseki logic, the matter got to Aso rock and Denis was stepped down to deputize Okpebholo.
Campaign came, the Edo people saw how embarrassing Okpebholo's campaign was, how the party was shielding him from public discussion, they felt disappointed and on the other hand, Asuen Ighodaro was being addressed as AI(Artificial intelligence) because of his oratory personality, naturally everyone would have thought he would win the election.
Election day came, Edo south(the Benin) which Obaseki was hoping on, had one of the poorest turnout in history, they never wanted Okpebholo but at the same time didn't want to vote Asuen because of Obaseki's dispute with the palace(allegedly), so they all stayed at home with a few actors manipulating votes in 2 local govt in favour of Okpebholo( Both actors are fighting for the senatorial seat at the moment)
Edo North, massively manipulated their votes, after all, their leader once said "For democracy to flourish, only those who can accept the pain of rigging, sorry defeat should participate in election"
To show how badly his own people didn't want him, even as a serving senator, Monday Okpebholo lost his own senatorial district were election was free and fair to Asuen Ighodaro.
This was how Okpebholo came into power, an interplay of voters apathy and a heavily manipulated electoral process from Abuja, that is why he will continue to sing the praises of the man in Aso Rock who gave him what he knew he never merited in the first place.
'Let them know; they can even kidnap me. Yet there will be no vacancy in Aso Rock’ -Edo Governor Okpebolo.
It’s genuinely hard to find someone in high political office who is as stupid and insensitive as this man.
And I say this with a lot of respect.