The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused Governor Monday Okpebholo of taking the state “from the age of progress back to the age of confusion,” sharply criticising his first year in office.
Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday at the party’s secretariat in Benin City, an event attended by Truth Live News International Media, the PDP State Chairman, Dr Tony Aziegbemi, said the administration had been marked by “policy paralysis, economic stagnation, and a collapse of institutional order.”
According to him, the past twelve months had been “defined by wasted opportunities under accidental leadership, where governance has been reduced to emotion and propaganda rather than policy and vision.” He said Edo State went for months without a functioning cabinet, and when one was eventually appointed, it consisted of “recycled aides without focus or coherence.”
The PDP alleged that due process had broken down, with contract awards now “shrouded in secrecy,” tenders boards sidelined, and merit disregarded. “The government now operates like a personal fiefdom, driven by emotion, not policy,” Aziegbemi said.
On the economy, the party criticised what it described as the absence of any meaningful capital project in the governor’s first year. It dismissed the ongoing flyover constructions as “ill-thought-out ventures designed to siphon public funds.” Comparing revenues, the PDP said former Governor Godwin Obaseki received ₦154 billion within the first ten months of 2024, while Governor Okpebholo received ₦236 billion within the same period in 2025 yet without “any visible progress.”
The party claimed that many existing state projects had been abandoned, local governments were struggling to pay salaries, pensioners remained unpaid, and investor confidence had collapsed. It also accused the administration of dismantling EdoGIS, a land administration system introduced under the previous government. According to Aziegbemi, no Certificates of Occupancy were signed for almost a year, leaving investors stranded. He said Obaseki’s government had previously signed around 1,000 C-of-Os monthly, compared to just 25 under the current administration.
The PDP also alleged that public infrastructure in Benin City had deteriorated, saying streetlights were out, roads were failing, and sanitation had worsened. It said schools had suffered setbacks as well, claiming that the EdoBEST learning model had been dismantled, teacher training halted, digital learning discontinued, and scholarship programmes scrapped. The party added that the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Iguoriakhi had been abandoned.
On healthcare, the PDP described the system as “in disrepair,” alleging that primary health centres lacked funding, the state health insurance scheme had stalled, and dialysis machines at the Edo Specialist Hospital had been non-functional for months. It further claimed that local governments were “administratively paralysed” after elected chairmen were removed and replaced with “loyal placeholders.”
Aziegbemi accused the administration of prioritising propaganda over governance, saying public funds were being used to “attack perceived enemies” rather than strengthen institutions. He challenged the governor’s media team to name “five verifiable achievements in one year,” insisting that the people of Edo had little to celebrate.
The party also criticised the 2025 budget, describing it as a “copy-and-paste document” lacking coherence, and accused the government of falling under external influence, saying Edo had been “re-captured by political godfathers.” It said the ongoing controversy over the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) was politically motivated, insisting that the project was originally conceived as a cultural and economic investment under Obaseki.
The PDP contrasted what it called the “productivity-driven legacy” of the former administration including the Edo Modular Refinery, Azura and Ossiomo power plants, Edo Tech Park, and the John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy with what it described as a year of “photo-ops and flyovers” under Okpebholo. It also criticised the governor’s foreign trips, saying they had not attracted any significant investment.
“In one year, Monday Okpebholo has taken Edo from the age of progress back to the age of confusion,” Aziegbemi said. “But Edo people are awake, and history will not forgive this season of waste.”
The Edo State Government had not responded to the allegations at the time of filing this report.