Pandemonium at this moment, has taken over Edo State, a South-South geopolitical zone in Nigeria, due to the recent list of names of nominees for political appointments.
Remember that the state just had a new governor after the September 21st gubernatorial election(2024).
Monday Opkebholo a former senator under the All Progressive Change (APC), emerged the winner after defeating the People’s Democratic Party’s candidate Asue Ighodalo, and Labour’s Party Candidate Olumide Apkata. And as the governor elect, it is very much mandatory to have a fresh list of people who will be heading different sectors or ministries of the state for a tailored achievement.
This led to the nominating process of commissioners which is currently causing disagreement in the state.
Members of the Esan West Local Government Chapter of the APC, same members of the ruling party, has raised serious objection to the proposed list of Commissioners.
A letter of protest was written through Barrister Umar Musa Ikhilor, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and addressed to Opkebholo the new governor.
In their letter, they made every word clear to justify their disagreement. They made it known that the list is not showing names of indigenes of all the five kingdoms (Ekpoma, Idoa, Ogwa, Ujogba, and Egoro), that makes up the Esan-West Local Government.
The local government, which is made up of ten wards, had their leader wrote the petition:
“RE: Nomination of 5 Names From Esan-West Local Government”.
In the spirit of petition, they accused that the list was compiled by the former state chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr David Imuse, and Mr. Thomas Okosun a former Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly and former state chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the former name of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The signatories to the petition are Chief Edwin Ogieriakhi, Chief Saturday Ogbeide, Hon. Abu Momodu, Mr. Visly Udaze, Chief Festus Ozoba, Mr. Wesley Oran, Mr. Sam Akhigbe, Chief Ikpea Ojie, Joe Aise Aisdion and Hon. Monday Ehighawa.
In addition to the fierce reaction to the list, what seemed to be like a corrupt practice emerged as they identified two of the nominees not worthy of the appointment, or more like names used as replacement to their slots in the government. It includes a female, simply identified as Mrs Ogbidi, a wife to chairman of the party, while the other nominee, Pastor Odigie is a pastor in Thomas Okosun’s Church.
These are the actual words tgat expressed their vehement disagreement:
“we the concerned leaders of Esan West Local Government, wish to register our protest against the list of commissioner nominees from Esan West Local Government.
“Firstly, the nomination was done by Mr. Thomas Okosun and Mr. Imuse without consulting the leadership of the Local Government as it was done in other Local Governments.
“Secondly, the list is made up of his relations and friends. For example, the female in the list is Mrs. Ogbidi the party chairman’s wife and Mr. Governor’s greatest critic, while Pastor Odigie is Thomas Okosun’s church pastor.
“Also, the selection did not reflect the spread in the Local Government as Esan West is made up of 5 kingdoms namely, Ekpoma, Idoa, Ogwa, Ujogba, and Egoro.
“Our usual practice is to select one nominee from each of the kingdoms but in this case, all the nominees are from Ekpoma kingdom.”
The party leaders, who posited that the list was capable of bringing division within the party in the locality, called on Governor Okpebholo to set aside the list for the sake of justice.
As a burning issue, this really raises great concern and speaks high volume of the corrupt act of politicians in present day Nigeria. With the ongoing claims made by the members of the Esan-West Local Government, the local Government Representation Law which must have atleast one person from each locality, in order to avoid what looks like a sideline or cheating is breached. Hence, the reason for the alarm.
