Governor Okpebholo’s Sycophancy

In Edo State, a new rule of office fashion has taken flight. Governor Monday Okpebholo, barely a year into his tenure, has turned the simple act of wearing a cap into a loyalty test. Not just any cap, President Bola Tinubu’s signature headgear, the unmistakable “Asiwaju cap.”

On Tuesday, October 14, the governor swore in 20 commissioners and members of state boards in Benin City. Before they could settle into their seats, he laid down a curious commandment: no commissioner, no matter how well-dressed, would be allowed into the Executive Council meetings without the presidential cap perched firmly on his or her head.

“I will not forgive any commissioner who is not wearing it,” he warned.

The Asiwaju cap was once a cultural accessory. Now, it stands as a political badge.

For Okpebholo, it is more than a nod to the President; it is gratitude stitched in fabric. He credits Tinubu’s “responsible leadership” for his administration’s stability and the state’s electoral revival. In his telling, past elections faltered because the President wasn’t “with us.”

The irony is hard to miss. While the governor insists his appointees were chosen on merit, his opening decree seemed to favour uniformity over individuality. Those who come in agbada without the prescribed cap, he said, “are going back.” The message rang less like a call to serve and more like a hymn to hierarchy.

Yet, beneath the theatre, there lingers a question about power and belonging. Is political success in Nigeria now measured by policy or by wardrobe? Perhaps both. Nigeria’s political corner is clearly a place where allegiance consistently trumps action. So it isn’t so surprising that the Asiwaju cap has become a shorthand for safety and a fabric of conformity.

Okpebholo promises service delivery, integrity, and results. But if his commissioners must first prove loyalty through headwear, one wonders: how much room is left for independent thought beneath the cap?