The press release issued today from the Office of the Governor of Edo State, adorned in the solemnity of officialdom yet hollow in substance, reads like a misguided attempt at satire by an individual ill-suited for the demands of governance. The so-called “political amnesty” extended to Mr. Asue Ighodalo is not only puerile in tone, but a clumsy exercise in political theater that reflects more on Senator Monday Okpebholo’s insecurity than on the object of his feigned magnanimity.
Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that the Governor and his Chief Press Secretary understand the meaning of the word “amnesty”, a term historically associated with absolution from wrongdoing. It beggars belief how that term could be applied to Asue, whose only “offence” was his noble aspiration to serve his people with competence, integrity, and a distinguished record of personal accomplishment.
To set the record straight, let us juxtapose the profiles, man to man:
Asue Ighodalo: Acclaimed lawyer. Senior Advocate of Corporate Nigeria. Co-founder of Banwo & Ighodalo, one of Africa’s leading commercial law firms. Chairman of Sterling Bank, Nigerian Breweries, and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. Director at the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority. Director, Okomu Oil. A man defined by excellence, global boardroom credibility, and strategic depth. A gentleman courted by both markets and statesmen for his intellect and values.
Monday Okpebholo: Known primarily for serving as Personal Assistant to the late Chief Tony Anenih — a true statesman whose political sophistication Okpebholo has long struggled to mirror. His accidental ascension to the Senate and now the governorship was not the result of brilliance or vision, but the by-product of elite intrigue and the dysfunction of Nigeria’s political machinery. His résumé is as thin as his governance style: inherited, provincial, and improvised.
That such a man would speak of “amnesty” in reference to Asue Ighodalo exposes not just a conceptual void but a profound misunderstanding of the moment. Asue Ighodalo is neither a supplicant nor a political pariah. He is, to the preponderance of Edo people, the rightful winner of the September 2024 election; a fact that no amount of rhetorical pageantry or official mockery can erase. Even if the Supreme Court, for reasons beyond reason, fails to correct the misjudgments of the lower courts, the people of Edo will not be gaslit. They know who they voted for. They know who spoke their language of hope, competence, and renewal. They also know the impostors who stole their mandate under the veil of judicial convenience. No puerile press release, calculated to belittle and bait, will change that reality.
Indeed, it is not Asue Ighodalo who needs rescuing, but the dignity of Edo State, which now groans under the burden of an administration preoccupied with mockery rather than governance, with spectacle rather than service.
Edo people must stand tall and make it known that we did not elect a jester-in-chief to sit on Osadebe Avenue. Governance is not a theatre of sarcasm; it is a sacred trust, and we must demand that it be treated as such. To offer “political amnesty” to a man who intellectually and professionally outclasses the entire Okpebholo government, is not an act of reconciliation, it is pettiness draped in borrowed robes.
This press release, like the brand of politics it represents, is an affront to decency, a footnote in the story of Edo’s democratic regression. It belongs, not in the annals of statesmanship, but in the margins of farce.
The people of Edo must rise, not in anger, but in dignity. We must reject this cynical politics of insult and reaffirm our pride in Asue Ighodalo: a man who remains a symbol of what is possible when merit, discipline, and vision are allowed to lead. His light will outlast this temporary cloud, and history will remember where each of us stood when Edo’s destiny was mocked.
Daniel A. Noah Osa-Ogbegie, a lawyer and an Apostle of Edo rennassance，writes from the cradle of black civilization, Benin City.