By Ayoola Ajanaku
There is something increasingly curious about the emerging campaign against Edo State Governor, His Excellency Senator Monday Okpebholo. It is no longer enough for his political adversaries to disagree with his policies. They now appear determined to construct a caricature of the man, ridicule his personality and question his competence through a sustained narrative that often says considerably more about the prejudices of his critics than about the governor’s actual record.
The latest installment are the article published by TheCable and ThisDay newspaper under the title, “Akpakomiza and other stories.”
From a third party perspective, one can recognise this recurring decimal. Nor does defending Governor Okpebholo require pretending that he is incapable of mistakes. He is a politician, not a saint. His administration must be scrutinised. His decisions must be interrogated and his failures, where established, must be exposed.
There is a difference between scrutiny and ridicule. In addition, there is a difference between accountability and caricature.
There is an even greater difference between journalism and the construction of a political narrative designed to diminish a public official before the evidence of his stewardship is fully examined.
The article’s treatment of Governor Okpebholo’s public speaking style is particularly revealing. The governor’s manner of expression may not conform to the polished diction of some career politicians, but since when did grammatical elegance become a constitutional requirement for occupying Government House?
The crux of the treatise earlier was based on a doctored video where “Akpakomiza’s” speech was deduced as delivery of insecurity to Edo people – A deep rethink suggests otherwise in this case.
Nigeria has produced presidents and governors who could speak for hours without saying anything of consequence. It has also produced leaders whose speeches were magnificent while their governments delivered little.
If eloquence were the principal currency of governance, Nigeria would probably be one of the world’s most developed countries.
It is not.
The real question is what happens after the microphone is switched off.
What happens on the roads?
What happens in the schools?
What happens in hospitals?
What happens to security?
What happens to workers?
What happens to the state’s investment environment?
What happens to the ordinary Edo citizen whose principal concern is not whether his governor speaks Queen’s English but whether government actually works?
That is where the conversation about Okpebholo should be located.
Governor Okpebholo was elected by the people of Edo State. His mandate was political, but the test of that mandate is ultimately developmental.
His responsibility is to govern, not audition for a debating competition.
Those who genuinely wish to hold him accountable should therefore resist the temptation to focus on superficialities.
If his roads are poor, identify them.
If his education policy is defective, demonstrate it.
If his healthcare interventions are inadequate, provide the evidence.
If his security strategy is failing, document the failures.
If his financial management is questionable, interrogate the numbers.
If his promises have not been fulfilled, publish the promises alongside the evidence of non-delivery.
That is how a serious opposition operates.
That is how constructive journalism functions.
But when a governor’s speech pattern becomes more important than his policies, something has gone terribly wrong with the public conversation.
Perhaps the problem is that Okpebholo does not fit neatly into the familiar mould of the polished Nigerian political elite.
He is not particularly interested in performing sophistication for the cameras. His supporters have instead built his political persona around “Akpakomiza” – A sobriquet that evokes toughness, determination and action.
His sworn critics may dislike the branding. They may mock it. They may dismiss it. That is their democratic right.
After all is said and done, the nickname is not the governor’s report card.
Neither is his accent.
Neither is his mannerism.
Neither is his public-speaking style.
The report card must be his record and this is where those seeking to politically bury Okpebholo prematurely may be making a strategic mistake.
The most effective way to defeat an incumbent governor is not to mock him. It is to demonstrate that he has failed.
That requires facts.
It requires statistics.
It requires comparative analysis.
It requires empirical evidence.
It requires patience.
Unfortunately, the Nigerian political environment has become increasingly susceptible to the politics of perception, where repetition is mistaken for proof and sensational language is deployed as a substitute for empirical evidence.
Once that happens, public discourse becomes theatre. The objective ceases to be discovering the truth and becomes determining which narrative dominates.
That is dangerous for Edo State, because Edo’s problems are too serious for political theatre.
The state needs functioning infrastructure. It needs better educational outcomes.
It needs investment, it needs jobs, it needs improved healthcare. It needs security. It needs an administration capable of translating public resources into measurable human development.
These are the issues journalists should be pursuing relentlessly.
These are the issues opposition politicians should be campaigning around – These are the issues citizens should be demanding answers about.
Governor Okpebholo would welcome that scrutiny. Indeed, the governor and his team must understand that public office comes with constructive criticism. Some will be fair. Some will be partisan. Some will be informed. Others will be driven by political interests.
The answer is not to complain – The answer therein is delivery. Every completed road becomes an argument, every functioning hospital becomes an argument, every improved school becomes an argument.
Furthermore, every investment attracted becomes an argument.
In politics, results are the most powerful rebuttal. That is why the attempt to define Okpebholo exclusively through his perceived weaknesses at the podium may ultimately prove futile.
Governors are not elected to win literary prizes. They are elected to govern and governors are not ultimately judged by columnists, social-media commentators or political spin doctors.
They are judged by citizens and people of Edo will eventually decide whether “Akpakomiza” delivered or disappointed. History will conduct the final audit. That audit will not ask whether Governor Okpebholo pronounced every word correctly.
It will ask whether Edo moved forward.
It will ask whether lives improved.
It will ask whether government became more responsive.
It will ask whether public resources produced public value.
It will ask whether the promises made to Edo voters were fulfilled.
That is the premise on which Governor Okpebholo should be confronted.
Not the podium.
Not the accent.
Not the theatrics.
The record.
In other words, before “Akpakomiza” is metaphorically marched to political Golgotha and subjected to eternal damnation by those determined to write his obituary before his administration’s full story has been told, perhaps the more responsible thing to do is to pause.
Let the evidence speak.
Let the projects speak.
Let the people speak.
Let empirical data speak.
In a nutshell, if Governor Monday Okpebholo has failed, let the facts establish it beyond reasonable doubt.
Otherwise, if he has delivered and continues to deliver, then no amount of carefully constructed ridicule will permanently obscure that reality.
Democracy does not demand that citizens love their governor.
It demands that they judge him fairly.
That fairness is not a favour to “Akpakomiza”.
It is a duty to the ‘Big Heart of the Nation’ – the sub national entity christened Edo.
Ayoola Ajanaku is a Communications and Advocacy Specialist based in Lagos, Nigeria
