By Ehichioya Ezomon
“The morning shows the day” is an adage meaning that the early part or beginning of something (a day, a project, or an event) sets the tone and indicates how the rest of it will turn out.” Governor Monday Okpebholo, two years as the Chief Executive of Edo State on November 12, 2026, appears to’ve been around for four or eight years at the Dennis Osadebey Avenue Government House seat of power in the capital city of Benin City. Why?
Because of the workings of the brief administration of the former Senator of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Edo Central, which many Edolites – and Okpebholo himself blowing his own trumpet – have assessed as surpassing the performances of many state governors in four/eight years in the saddle. It’s worth an independent verification across the state!
Certainly, the administration is “a work in progress,” with many areas of Edo State still to see and feel its reach and impact! But Okpebholo hasn’t looked back from day one in office on November 12, 2024, as he executes a framework and action plan called the “Project SHINE Agenda” for five key pillars of his governance blueprint: Security, Health, Infrastructure, Nutrition (Agriculture) and Education.
Seemingly unbothered and unaffected by abuses, insults, expletives, and denigration from those who would rather their candidate or an indigene of their section of the state is at the driver’s seat, the governor’s taken his criticisms as a motivation to move Edo forward.
A major project that’s marked his performance early on – and one of the most “talk about” by the political divide in Edo State – is the now “iconic” Ramat Park Flyover Bridge, a traffic decongestion route, which’s a first-of-its-kind by any government since Edo’s creation in 1991.
Discredited as an “audio project” by critics and the opposition in Edo State, the flyover (with the Adesuwa Junction Flyover Bridge also in an advanced stage) has turned out a “reality” from conception to inception, construction to completion, and beautification of the underbridge with artistically-aesthetic paintings showcasing the rich cultural and traditional heritage of Edo people.
While construction of roads surrounding the flyover are ongoing in readiness for its commissioning, many Edo people can’t wait, and clamour for the opening of the edifice for public use. Talk about the “rejected stone” becoming the cornerstone of the house!
Okpebholo isn’t a “seat-warmer” but a workaholic, “talk-and-do,” who’s virtually on his feet from dawn to dusk inspecting ongoing projects in the three senatorial districts of Edo South, Edo Central and Edo North, to put contractors on their toes, to meet the specifications, scopes and timeframes for completion and delivery of projects.
While turning Edo into a sort of “construction site” rehabilitating, upgrading, reconstructing and modernising roads, schools, medical, transport and security facilities; Okpebholo’s recruited/staffed thousands of teachers and civil/public servants; and offered remedies to areas of neglect and grievances.
A notable achievement in security is the promulgation of an anti-kidnapping and cultism law that prescribes the death penalty (Okpebholo vows to sign) for convicted offenders, and demolition of property used for the twin heinous crime, leading to a drastic reduction in kidnapping, and cultism that’d blighted Edo State and its peace-loving people.
Okpebholo’s administration has increased subventions to institutions of higher education in Edo State, with the Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Esan West, running cost raised from N45m under Governor Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to N500m. This is besides Okpebholo’s quick intervention to ensure the induction of hundreds of Medical students after many years of graduation from the university.
Undeserved places for decades have suddenly been reached by the administration, going down to Okpebholo’s persona and commitment anchored on his campaign promise to serve every community, a vow he’s fulfilling to the people every step of the way.
During inspection of projects, benefitting residents show their appreciation by hailing Okpebholo with aliases such as “Akpako Rescue” (derived from his original nickname, “Akpakomiza” due to what many consider as the governor rescuing Edo State from the alleged non-performing eight-year government (2016-2024) of Governor Obaseki.
Lately, “Okpe’s Baby” (sometimes written as Okphe’s Baby) has joined the list of viral nicknames, which Okpebholo observed and embraced publicly during a routine outing on Sapele Road in Benin City, as the residents began shouting “Okpe’s Baby” at him.
Serving as a play on his last name (Okpebholo), his administration and supporters point to the nickname “as a sign of affection driven by his infrastructure achievements,” even as it’s also “sparked plenty of lighthearted humour, memes, and political banter across Nigerian social media.” (Instagram).
There’s also critics’ frequently deployed “D7” moniker, as a point of attack regarding Okpebholo’s alleged “communication style, governance capability, and public reading/speaking slips,” which critics use to mock his academic background and perceived educational level from grades in his West African Examinations Council (WAEC) results, specifically earning a D7 grade in multiple subjects. (Google)
However, Okpebholo says he likes whatever (nick)names that Edo people call him when he moves “freely” among them because, in his words, “instead of people throwing (sachet) pure water at me, they are now calling me sweet names.”
Having been home since September 20, 2026, in the Village, I can attest, as an eyewitness, that in fulfilment of his promise to serve every community, the Okpebholo government is moving apace with the construction of roads in my community of Idumabi, Irrua Kingdom, Esan Central of Esanland in Edo Central senatorial district of Edo State.
The community people watch (yes, it’s not only in Abia State that residents marvel at Governor Alex Otti’s administration’s ongoing projects they haven’t witnessed in their lifetime) as a HITACHI payloader hums, and swivels, digs the culvets and deposits the sand on the banks of the roads receiving attention; binders bind full-length rods to cut-to-size rods, while coarse or sharp sand and gravel are delivered in truckloads, and cements in trailerloads.
Next, the construction workers fill a concrete mixer with water, sand, gravel and cement, scoop the mixture and spread it on the culvert floor; they board the binded rods in the culvert, and the beams are cast; the boards are removed the next day, and the routine continues, as the project progresses. Though the construction is at its early stages, the culverts for two roads, abuting the Idumabi Community Square, where a roundabout is earmarked,
are about completed, while digging, boarding and pouring of concrete in culverts continue on other roads.
The Okpebholo government’s installed solar-powered street lights on nearly all the community roads, helping to improve visibility and security at night; and a functional 200kva transformer that serves two roads and their streets/avenues.
While employments have been offered to several indigenes, with a proposed Health Centre for which a parcel of land has been donated; there’s a firm commitment by the government to replace the faulty 500kva transformer that serves most parts of the community.
As the transformer finally “packed up,” and its section of coverage is without power going to two months, the people appeal to the government to deliver the “promised transformer” – reported to be ready – to the community, to alleviate its incessant power problems. A reminder to the Okpebholo government: The burrow pit of two acres’ space (1,000ft x 1,000ft or 10 plots of 100ft x 100ft), slated for floodwater conveyed by the open concrete drainage that runs through Idumabi, hasn’t been constructed, with the result that whenever it rains, the stormwater devastates hectares of farmlands. One farmer reported that on a particular occasion, “the farm path was knee-deep, and he couldn’t access his farm that’s also flooded.” The initial flood havoc from the construction of the open drainage that swarmed several compounds in Idumabi has led to hitherto avoidable acrimony between two families, with one accusing the other of diverting flood into its premises, thereby earning the alleged offending family traditional sanction and one of its members police action.
In light of the stormwater channelisation from the reconstruction of the Ekpoma-Irrua-Uromi-Ubiaja highway, the Idumabi community reiterates its appeal to Okpebholo’s government to ensure that the conveyance doesn’t adversely affect, and make worse its flooding and erosion problems, nor create enmity between brotherly neighbours.
Idumabi people sincerely salute and appreciate the Okpebholo administration as the first to show physical presence in the community since the 1991creation of Edo State, and down the ages from the Midwestern Region to Mid-Western State, and to Bendel State from which Delta and Edo birthed in 1991.
The community people also join other Edo people, to commend the ongoing developments in the state, and express gratitude to Governor Okpebholo as he marks a two-year purposeful governance on November 12, 2026, and pray that the projects aren’t abandoned, as critics have predicted.
LAST LINE: In an unprecedented move on October 23, 2026, the Edo State chapter of the APC, at an “extraordinary executive meeting” of the State Working Committee (SWC), publicly endorsed Governor Okpebholo for a “second term” during the party’s round-off of local government rallies at the Eguare Primary School, Irrua, headquarters of Esan Central. Having scaled the huddles of renomination,”
Okpebholo, as he celebrates his administration’s two years in office, should avoid any sideshows, and refocus his eyes on the ball, and strengthen his hands to the plough, to consolidate his achievements in the remaining two years of his first term in “The Heartbeat of the Nation.” Happy Anniversary!
• Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos. He can be reached on X, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357.
