In Part 1, we established that Edo South, despite being the cultural, economic backbone and the melting pot of Edo State, has endured years of underrepresentation, political marginalization, and economic neglect. The consequence is a glaring paradox—an engine room of the state relegated to the fringes of power. The time has come not just for introspection but for action. This second part exposes how calculated political engineering has reinforced this sidelining, and why Edo South must now rise beyond subservience.
History, they say, is a wise teacher, but only those who pay attention to its whispers can avoid the pitfalls of repetition. As Edo South continues to reel under the weight of marginalization, we must confront a bitter truth—our prolonged silence has enabled a systemic strategy of undermining, championed over the years by dominant actors like Senator Adams Oshiomhole and now sustained by Governor Monday Okpebholo.
This is no reckless assertion. Let us walk through facts, not conjecture.
When Adams Oshiomhole emerged as Governor of Edo State in 2008, he rode to power on a populist wave. He was sold to the people as a revolutionary, a comrade for the masses. To be fair, he brought energy and infrastructural focus to Benin City, but beneath the tarred roads and red roofs laid a political design: the deliberate weakening of Edo South’s leadership base.
Rather than nurture competent and independent-minded leaders from Edo South, Oshiomhole handpicked agreeable individuals who would serve as his political instruments—men with little grassroots clout amd no pedigree, but great readiness to echo his dictates. These individuals were not selected to serve the people, but to stifle dissent within the South, to drown out legitimate voices, and to suppress any organized resistance to his Etsako-centered consolidation of power.
Ask yourselves: who were the formidable, visionary leaders Oshiomhole supported from Edo South? Which of them emerged as genuine champions of their communities, rather than as extensions of the “Comrade Governor”? The truth is uncomfortable—most of those given platforms under his regime served as political placeholders, not as advocates for their people.
While Iyamho, a once-sleepy village in Etsako, was transformed with dual carriageways, a university, and gleaming infrastructure, towns like Ehor, Igbanke, Urhonigbe, and Iguobazuwa languished in dusty neglect. While water flowed in Uzairue, Edo South communities rationed boreholes. This wasn’t just about political calculations , t was a strategy of cultural diminishment.
And it didn’t stop there.
When Oshiomhole ascended to the position of National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), did he leverage that office to champion federal appointments for sons and daughters of Edo South? Did he advocate for our neglected roads or attract meaningful federal institutions to our senatorial district?
No. Instead, he carried forward the same game—install loyalists, silence dissent, and sabotage any Edo South candidate unwilling to genuflect. Under his national chairmanship, federal power was weaponized to manipulate party primaries, often at the expense of credible aspirants from our region. This, despite the reality that Oshiomhole’s gubernatorial victories in 2007 and 2012 were overwhelmingly secured in Edo South—winning all 77 wards in 2012, a political feat yet to be matched.
Yet, as the de facto leader of the APC in Edo State today, Oshiomhole continues to operate as a puppeteer and under his extended influence, Edo south has missed out on every single key federal appointment under President Bola Tinubu. Governor Monday Okpebholo, though from Edo Central, operates as an extension of this same political architecture. What do we see in Edo South? The recycling of loyal enforcers—men handpicked not to represent, but to suppress.
What are the current appointments for Edo south under Okpebholo aside the statutory commissioners? Enforcers of revenue collections from.market women, forest encroachers, merchants of sands from borrow pit and event organisers, sadly. They are already lining up: a new breed of shout-men with no people agenda for development but plenty of venom against any voice that dares to ask questions, defending the status quo and silencing opposition, unfortunately.
This method is not new.
Chief Tony Anenih, in his prime, followed a similar path. He promoted gatekeepers from Edo South who prioritized loyalty over legacy. The goal was control, not empowerment; and so, the cycle of suppression and subjugation continues.
Let us ask the hard question again:
Is Edo South destined to always provide the foot soldiers for other people’s political empires?
Why must we continue to play second fiddle in a state we anchor—culturally, economically, and historically?
Our leaders must rise. Enough of the bootlicking, handclapping and genuflecting for political emperors who see Edo South only as a territory to conquer. The era of sycophants trading our dignity for contracts and appointment crumbs must end.
We must demand leaders who will speak truth to power—not in whispers in private parlours, but boldly in the public square. Leaders who know their legitimacy flows not from Iyamho or Uwesan, but from Ogbe, Okada, Abudu, Ehor, and Evbuobanosa.
Edo South must reject the politics of puppetry. We must embrace a new order of principled, assertive, and strategic leadership.
We need voices that will ask:
Why does Edo South, the state’s economic and cultural giant, have the weakest influence in its power structure?
Why are our federal roads abandoned, our communities neglected, and our youths criminalized?
Why are we only mobilized for votes but excluded from development?
To our young politicians: refuse to be errand boys. Reject the cloak of political servitude. Say no to recruitment into oppressive structures.
To our elders: speak now or history will remember your silence as betrayal.
This is not about anger or vendetta. It is about justice. It is about dignity. It is about restoring the pride of a people who have given so much and received so little.
Let the message echo from Igbanke to Iguobazuwa, from Ugo to Okada: Edo South will no longer kneel in its own house.
We have paid the price for unity. Now we must demand the dividend of equity.
The question still hangs in the air:
Who will speak for Edo South now?
Perhaps the better question is:
Who among us will dare to act?
A timely piece by Daniel A. Noah Osa-Ogbegie, Esq. A voice for justice. A call for awakening.
