PDP berates Okpebholo over endless suspension of Executive appointees

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has berated Governor Monday Okpebholo over what the party considered as endless suspension of Executive appointees. The State PDP leaders, therefore, urged the governor to stop the dramatic replay of suspension of executive appointees in the guise of “grave financial infractions.”

The Secretary to State Government (SSG), Umar Musa Ikhilor, had in a statement on Monday disclosed the suspension of the Executive Secretary of the Edo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Caulson Osoikhia Oahimire, over allegations of “grave financial and official infractions,” replacing him with the most senior staff of the agency, pending the outcome of a special committee to be constituted by the government to investigate the and submit a report to the governor.

The State Publicity Secretary of the PDP Caretaker Committee, Chris Osa Nehikhare, in a statement  in Benin-city, chided the administration of Governor Okpebholo as a tragicomic drama stuck on replay.

According to the statement, “The Senator Okpebholo’s tenure has become synonymous with a string of headline-grabbing suspensions of his top cabinet members-each more bewildering than the last.

“The latest in this parade of purges is Dr. Caulson Osoikhia Oahimire, the Executive Secretary of the Edo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, suspended over alleged “grave financial infractions.”

The PDP bemoaned that since assuming office, Governor Okpebholo has embarked on an unrelenting spree of suspensions, throwing one official after another under the bus-often amid sensational accusations of corruption and misconduct, noting that in all these, people of the state have not seen credible investigations, neither was there legal public accountability but reinstatement through the backdoor.

The Pdp declared: “From his own Commissioner for Justice and Chief Law Officer, Samson Osagie, to the Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, Damian Lawani; the Head of the Public Safety Response Team, Kelly Okungbowa; the Commander of the State Security Corps, Friday Ibadin; the CEO of FEWMA, Ahmed Momoh; and now Dr. Oahimire, the list reads like a script from a badly managed soap opera. What we are witnessing is not governance; it is chaos masquerading as reform.

“In all this noise, Edo people have seen no credible investigations, no legal conclusions, no public accountability, only whispers of quiet reinstatements through the backdoor.

“The Edo people are left asking: Is this simply a case of a workman constantly quarrelling with his tools? Or did Okpebholo knowingly assemble a team riddled with questionable characters—people who see public office not as a platform for service, but as a shortcut to self-enrichment?

“What is clear is that this endless cycle of suspensions has laid bare a troubling reality: either the governor is completely out of his depth or incapable of managing his own appointees or he is overseeing an administration deeply compromised by rot, failure, and corruption.

“If these appointees were handpicked or imposed by his party’s power brokers, the time has come for Okpebholo to take full responsibility. He must clean house—decisively—and assemble a new cabinet built on competence, integrity, and a genuine commitment to the progress of Edo State.

“Enough of the drama; Edo deserves serious, focused, and transparent leadership.”

Credit: THISDAY