The Edo State Governor, Sen. Monday Okpebholo, over the weekend, said he would utilise his developmental projects in all parts of the state to deliver the 2.5 million votes he recently promised to President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
To achieve this, Okpebholo stated that he had taken construction to rural areas that were largely abandoned by the former government, including the community of the former governor, Godwin Obaseki, where he stated that he was tarring roads in the eight communities that comprise the area.
Okpebholo made the remark at a South–South Stakeholders forum of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), which was held in Benin City and had Governor Bassey Otu of Cross Rivers State, the Minister of Regional Development, Hon. Abubakar Momoh, Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Samuel Obuku, former Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipriye Silva, Senators Adams Oshiomhole and Neda Imasuen, and chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the states in the region, among others.
Okpebholo said, “We have a president with capacity who is making money available for us to work; he has embarked on critical reforms for the country Nigeria. For things that you think are difficult, he is taking decisions on them.
“When I said we are going to deliver 2.5 million votes for the president by 2027, I mean it, but I heard the three men left in the PDP saying how, and I replied that how will it not happen when I am already working on it? For instance, I am tarring roads in the area where the former PDP governor comes from.
“For eight years, he could not tar the roads in his community. I am expecting a total of votes from them; there are eight communities there, and he did not tar any roads there for eight years.
“Their son did not step foot in their community, but I was there to campaign, and I told them I would come and do the roads, and today we are doing the roads.
“We are able to do all these things because of the support we are getting from the president. Such a man – how do we repay him? It is by ensuring that by 2027, we support him. We have stated that in Edo State, our 2.5 million votes are accounted for.
“When he was campaigning, I was also campaigning to go to the Senate; nobody gave him a chance; they sized everything; they withdrew money from circulation; they made petrol unavailable; it is only the air that is created by God that they could not withdraw from him; there was nothing sizeable to frustrate him that they did not seize, but he is there, and he is releasing everything, and you say he will not have that vote; he must have it.
“I love my president with all my heart, and we will vote for him with all our hearts; wherever he goes, we will go.”
