Choice of Dennis Idahosa as My Deputy Gave Us Victory, Declares Gov Okpebholo

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City 

Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has said his victory in the 2024 governorship election could, to a greater extent, be attributed to his choice of Dennis Idahosa as his deputy.

Okpebholo, who described his deputy governor as his brother, said, “I won because I made the right choice in him.”

The governor made the declaration while receiving a number of defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at Okada, the administrative headquarters of Ovia North-East Local Government Area of the state.

In a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the deputy governor, Friday Aghedo, Okpebholo was quoted to have reiterated that he had enjoyed a cordial working relationship with his deputy and assured the people that they would continue in the same stead for the good of the people.

“We are working well together. I wouldn’t have won the election if I had chosen another person as deputy,” Okpebholo reiterated. 

He reinstated his administration’s commitment to the people of the state and its indigenous roots, which he said was the reason he must do his best for the people. 

“Why are we working for Edo people? We are working for Edo because we are confirmed sons of the soil. We are not foreigners. We were not borrowed from somewhere else.

“My mother is an Esan woman. My father is an Esan man. I grew up there. My deputy, the same Edo. So, if we are from here, we must work for our people,” he said.

He highlighted his government’s continuous developmental projects as evidence of its dedication, contrasting it with what he described as the “pattern of the immediate-past government” which waited until election periods to roll out projects.

“That is why you see us move from executing one project to another. We do not wait until election period before we roll out projects. We do not believe that we can develop in that manner,” the governor emphasised.