Edo 2024: Okpebholo says he will not bow to APC godfathers if he wins
By Odion Ehimare
The media shy and embattled All Progressive Candidate, APC, was quoted to have said he will never bow to the several hungry APC godfathers who are skirting around him pretending to be supporting him when he knows that they want to put their hands inside the state coffers if he wins the September gubernatorial election.
One of his closest aides, who begged that his name should not be mentioned, said this to our correspondent without being urged to spill this top secret.
“I wont bow to these godfathers you see around me. I wont. You think they like me or are in support for me to win to better Edo State? No! They are with me to share the state’s money as they have always done in the past. You see the likes of Pastor Ize-Iyamu, he has no work. He has never done anything meaningful apart from politics since he graduated. If he was really in support of the Esan Agenda like every meaningful Edo State citizen, why did he showed interest until Senator Oshiomole disgraced him out of the race? Look at the Acting Chairman, Tenebe, all he wants is money, money money, to feed his big big lifestyle. He is always asking money from me without any support coming from him. I would even like to distance myself from him if I win this election because he does his things like a thug. Is he the only cultist in Nigeria?”
The source also added that Senator Monday Okpebholo is not happy with Senator Oshiomole for initially working against him. “I do not trust him,” he confided in the source. “Imagine if I had not spent millions, bribed members of the National Working Committee, for them to see that the initial results where Dennis actually won was upturned. Oshiomole never supported me, so let him not pretend bygone is bygone. If not for the president that forced Dennis on me, I wouldn’t have accepted him as my deputy. He was planted here to see how we would be sharing money and contracts to party leaders if we win. How will I be able to recover all the money I have spent and I will still spend if they all want money without their financial support?”
Senator Monday Okpebholo also claimed, according to the source, that if he wins, he will need to first make out the money he will spend for the election, share money to his few financial supporters before considering any so called godfather, but that he will never bow to their whims and caprices. He will only give Edo State money to those who do not want to order him around just as Wike wanted to be ordering Fubara around before he refused. He added that so far, none of the hanging godfathers have contributed a dime to his campaign, and that is why he has been handicapped from moving around the state like Dr Asue Ighodalo who is actually everywhere that he needs to be. The source said Monday also confided in him that as it were, he would prefer Ighodalo wins the election as a fellow Esan man because he is the most competent of the three of them. When asked what he has against Olumide Akpata, he replied, “where is the sense of the present governor’s cousin being the next governor? Where is his sense of Justice, Equity and Fairness?” He jokingly said Akpata is not in the race, he is just here to show-off, and that he is not a politician.
