Beyond Credentials: Why Ighodalo Lost Edo Governorship Election

By Dr Prosper Ahworegba

Monday Okpebholo lacks the educational background and corporate experience that Ighodalo and Akpata have. However, several factors conspired against Ighodalo. (Akpata, according to my analysis, was not in the race).

1. Obaseki received bipartisan support to win the 2020 election. Some APC and PDP governors, including Wike, camped in Benin to ensure that GO was delivered, in order to spite Oshiomhole and Jagaban. GO turned his back on those who helped him win, including Wike, who became his arch rival. These individuals banded together to oppose Ighodalo. They visited Ighodalo with Obaseki’s sins.
2. Obaseki has been a plague in Edo. His performance as governor has been the worst since Edo’s founding. The electorate did not wish to extend his term through a proxy governor.

3.Ighodalo is aloof and distant from his people, to the point where he is considered an outsider by the Esan people. He neither can speak Esan nor does he have even a hut in his Ewohimi community of descent.Politics, like charity, begins at home.

4. Monday Okpebholo is a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.What he lacks in education, he makes up for by engaging with his people. He ran for election in Esan land and won. The structure he used is still intact, and he took full advantage of it.
5. The feud between Benin’s respected Oba and some Enigies, which culminated in litigation against the Oba, is sacrilegiously heinous. It bears Obaseki’s imprimatur. This has not gone down well with the majority of Benin people, who hold their Oba in high esteem.
6. To rub in GO’s disrespect for the Oba of Benin, he snubbed him when PDP heavy weights including Atiku and Governors went to Benin for the grand finale campaign rally. Instead of taking the visitors to the palace, he took them to the home of Benin’s Esama.
7. Obaseki is power drunk and arrogant. He alienated many key PDP stakeholders, including Orbih and had his deputy impeached. Senators Matthew Urhogide and Alimikhena, among others, defected to the APC with the promise of dealing with Obaseki and relegating him to Edo State’s politically uncircumcised club.
8. His fight with his deputy, Shuaibu, helped to deal him a fatal blow in Edo North. Together with the influence of Oshiomhole, it was a landslide in Edo North for Monday Okpebholo

All of these factors worked against Asue Ighadolo, regardless of his education and corporate experience.