FELIX NWANERI reports that the shocker pulled by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State, now gov-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo, was one in which conventional wisdom was proven wrong

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in last weekend’s governorship election in Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo, apparently was right, while countless others were wrong.

The pundits and pollsters, who said the man also known as Akpakomiza will not win the Edo State governorship election; members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, who mocked him and political analysts, who dismissed him, failed to understand the depth of his support.

For many, it was a stunning performance by the senator, who presently represents Edo Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly, over PDP’s Asue Ighodalo, a lawyer and board room guru, who had the backing of outgoing Governor Godwin Obaseki; a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olumide Akpata of Labour Party (LP) and 14 others in the keenly contested election.

Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes, winning eleven out of the 18 local government areas of the state, Ighodalo had 247,274 votes, winning seven local government areas, while Akpata placed a distant third with 22,783 votes.

Despite the belief in some political quarters during the build-up to the election that Okpebholo’s candidacy was “a joke taken too far” over what his opponents described as “not just in his well-documented struggle with the English language but inability to articulate any semblance of a vision for Edo State,” he stuck to a plan that worked to perfection.

The APC candidate ran a campaign built around his personality and anti-establishment message of change in the state that prides itself as “Heart Beat of the Nation.” It was against this backdrop that many political watchers saw him as “an imperfect candidate with a near-perfect message.”

Luckily for him, his opponents failed to comprehend where he was coming from and his destination. This, perhaps, explained why voters in the Edo showed their aversion towards the party in power given the prevailing situation in the state. Many believe that Okpebholo guessed correctly that he could ride the wave of discontent against the Obasek-led administration.

Instructively, specifics were never his strength but he used an “us versus them” message to build voter enthusiasm in places where most of the other contenders never ventured – rural areas with voters, who felt ignored by the powers that be.

And, besides making voters feel like they mattered, the APC candidate thumbed his nose at the extensive get-out-the-vote operation and datarich organisation that are seen as essential to modern winning-campaigns.

His campaign rather relied on more unofficial networks of rabid supporters led by a former governor of the state and senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole, to get his message out. While there was no doubt that pundits underestimated how this approach would work, Okpebhole’s APC benefited from a ruling party with its own flaws.

The PDP in Edo State went into the governorship election as a divided house due to the rift between Governor Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu. Most significantly, the inability of the Obaseki administration to fulfill most of its campaign promises further eroded the euphoria that ushered in his second term in office after the fame liberation of Edo State from political godfather in the 2020 governorship election..

But as pundits continue to wonder how Obaseki got his politics wrong to caused the rejection of his anointed even when he is said to have initiated some reforms in the state’s civil service, it is clear that the outgoing governor and his party took a costly political gamble by banking on the same variables that determined his victory in the 2020 governorship election.

Specifics were never his strength but he used an “us versus them” message to build voter enthusiasm in places where most of the other contenders never ventured

While Okpebholo would be assuming the number one seat at the Dennis Osadebe, Edo State government house come November 12, many have wondered how he was able to come this far after launching himself to the nation’s political space in 2023, with his election as a senator.

The Edo State Governor-elect was born on August 29, 1970, to the family of late Chief and Mrs. Peter Okpebholo of Udomi community in Uwesan-Irrua, Esan Central Local Government Area of Edo State.

Nicknamed Akpakomiza immediately after his birth, Okpebholo attended Udomi Community Primary School and Ujabhole Community Secondary School, respectively, both in UwesanIrrua, Esan Central.

Unfortunately, the untimely death of his younger and only sister, as a result from complication from unhygienic water supply, fetched from the stream, cut short his dream of completing his secondary school in Ujabhole Community Secondary School in Uwessan.

The impact of the loss of his only sister made him to leave his community and relocate to Jos, Plateau State, to live with his elder brother, where he eventually completed his secondary school education. Amidst his sense of loss, he vowed to address the water problem of his community if God blesses him financially.

He fulfilled this promise when his prayer was answered. After his Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), Okpebholo got a job with a firm that deals in books and computers as a salesman. He excelled in job and quickly endeared himself to high profile individuals, corporate organisations, government agencies and European missionaries in Jos and beyond.

He became exceptionally successful in the sales of computers such that he was encouraged to set up his own firm, an advice he heeded with every sense of determination to succeed.

It was clear that Okpebholo saw the future in computers and quickly keyed into the business by floating Chapman Computers Ltd. The company soon became a household name in Plateau State.

He later established Interweb Satcom Limited, a major player in broadband sales and development. Okpebholo, however, did not stop his pursuit of knowledge even when he became successful as a businessman. He went back to school and obtained a degree in Business Administration from the University of Abuja.

He is currently pursuing his Masters’ degree in Policy and Leadership Studies in the same university. Okpebholo’s relationship with late Chief Tony Anenih (one of the founding fathers of the PDP and onetime Minister of Works) opened up vistas of political engagements between him and political heavyweights across the length and breadth of Nigeria, and therefore, on his own, developed the idea of politics of development and service to humanity.

As one who places value on friendship, he took Chief Anenih as his mentor, hero and father. This informed why his political philosophy is woven around human and infrastructural development. It was this factor that motivated him to contest for the Edo Central Senatorial District seat in 2023.

His giant strides in infrastructural development and human capital development, amongst other public service delivery in Edo Central explained his overwhelmingly electoral victory in the 2023 elections, thereby smashing the 24 years rule of the PDP in Edo Central Senatorial District.

On June 13, 2023, he was inaugurated as the senator representing Edo Central Senatorial District in the 10th National Assembly, and he chairs the Senate Committee on Public Procurement. Okpebholo’s belief that politics should be the conduct of public affairs for the good of all motivated him to join the Edo State governorship race.

The desire to change the deplorable condition of infrastructure, tackle insecurity, transform education, health and agriculture sectors in Edo State were some of the things that propelled him to vie for the governorship position.

With his gubernatorial victory, Okpebholo seems to have justified the saying by a former United States senator, late Robert Kennedy that “each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

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