Will Governor Okpebholo Write Another WAEC? The Curious Politics of Social Media Insults

Every Nigerian politician eventually learns that the internet keeps better records than the civil service ever could, and Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State just found that out the hard way, courtesy of an old WAEC slip and a very unbothered Afrobeats star.

The trouble began at an APC campaign event ahead of the August 15 Osun governorship election, where Okpebholo took aim at Osun Governor Ademola Adeleke, mocking his well-known style of always dancing while campaigning for APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji.

Adeleke’s nephew, David Adeleke, known globally as Davido, was not amused. He responded by posting what was presented as Okpebholo’s 2008 WAEC result on Instagram, dated to Liberty Comprehensive College in Jos. That might have passed quickly, except that Davido saw fit to add commentary such as, “Edo people, behold your governor.” The document, still unverified by either Okpebholo’s team or the West African Examinations Council, reportedly shows a C5 in Mathematics, D7 grades across several subjects, and a quasi-fail grade in Government. As commentators have exclaimed, it is hardly a transcript built for framing.

Legal practitioner and author Timothy Tugbiyele publicly urged Davido to apologise. Why? He thinks that political disagreement should never curdle into personal humiliation, particularly against a sitting governor.

But is Davido having any of it? No!

In a televised interview on August 18, he said he would never apologise, insisting Edo residents deserve to know the academic record of the man governing them. The exchange has since dragged in opposition supporters online, further fuelled by a separate incident in which Okpebholo warned Labour Party leader Peter Obi about security clearance ahead of a Benin City visit.

Somewhere in all this, the actual questions facing both men, Adeleke’s record in Osun and Okpebholo’s in Edo, have quietly left the chat, replaced by a duel over decade-old report cards.

A governor’s worth, whatever his WAEC grades once said, is ultimately measured by roads, schools, hospitals and salaries paid on time, not by how many subjects he passed as a teenager in Jos. At least, that’s what some observers are saying.

Said observers also believe that, no, Okpebholo probably will not be sitting WAEC again anytime soon. But if Nigerians keep grading their leaders strictly on governance, plenty of politicians on both sides of this feud might want to start revising.

Deji Adeleke and the Rare Value of Having the Right Man in Your Corner

Every governor needs allies, but few have one quite like Dr Deji Adeleke. The elder brother of Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, and father of Afrobeats star Davido, occupies a role in the family that owes nothing to the ballot box.

Born Adedeji Tajudeen Adeleke on March 6, 1957, he built his own reputation long before his younger brother entered Osun politics. He is the founder and chief executive of Pacific Holdings Limited, a conglomerate with major interests in energy, power generation, real estate, banking and security.His power assets alone contribute a meaningful share of Nigeria’s electricity generation, a scale of business rarely discussed in the same breath as the family’s political profile, yet foundational to how the Adelekes are perceived nationally.

He also founded Adeleke University in Ede, Osun State, where he has built a reputation for sponsoring scholarships for underprivileged students, extending his influence into education long before it touched state politics.

The Adeleke political lineage runs deep regardless of his own choices. Their father served as a senator during Nigeria’s Second Republic, while their late brother, Isiaka Adeleke, became Osun’s first civilian governor in 1992 and later a multi-term senator.

Dr Deji has never sought that path himself. He has publicly stated he holds no formal office within his brother’s government, describing his role instead as an independent guardian ensuring the administration remains accountable to ordinary people.

That independence gives his counsel a different weight. Political advisers calculate around interests and optics; a brother who built his own empire before the governorship existed can speak plainly, without needing anything from the office he is advising.

For Governor Adeleke, surrounded by commissioners, strategists and shifting party alliances, that kind of voice is difficult to manufacture and even harder to replace. It exists only where history, trust and family already do.

Political fortunes rise and fall, and alliances rarely survive every season intact. What has held steady around Governor Adeleke, at least so far, is the presence of an elder brother with nothing left to prove and no office left to seek.