Edo State commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, has defended Governor Monday Okpebholo over criticisms surrounding ongoing infrastructure projects in Udomi, his ancestral community in Esan Central local government area.
He insisted that the administration remains committed to equitable development across the state.
Afegbua, who addressed journalists during the state’s monthly press briefing in Benin City alongside the commissioner for Public Safety, Hon. Festus Igbea, and the commissioner for Transport, Hon. Saturday Uwulekhue, said recent claims that the governor was concentrating projects in his hometown were politically motivated and designed to stir ethnic sentiments.
According to him, the administration remains proud of a governor who is extending development to every part of Edo State, including villages, hamlets and remote communities that had long been neglected.
He argued that critics would have condemned the governor if he had completed his tenure without undertaking any meaningful project in his ancestral community.
He said, “The road leading to former Governor Godwin Obaseki’s ancestral home was abandoned for years, but the Okpebholo administration has constructed that road and linked about 12 communities. If charity begins at home, it is not a crime for the governor to execute projects that will impact not only the people of Udomi but residents from other parts of Edo State.”
The commissioner maintained that the government’s development agenda was driven by the need to unlock the economic potential of rural communities, particularly areas with vast arable land suitable for large-scale agriculture and investment.
He explained that efforts to attract investors into commercial farming require the provision of basic infrastructure and amenities, stressing that roads and other critical facilities are essential for economic expansion and job creation in rural communities.
He further stated that the government was conscious of its responsibility to all 18 local government areas of the state, noting that Edo’s development strategy cuts across communities bordering Kogi, Delta and Ondo states.
“As long as you are within the geographical space of Edo State, you are captured in our policy agenda, whether you are vulnerable, elite or otherwise,” he said.
Afegbua insisted that the administration was implementing multi-billion-naira projects across the state’s three senatorial districts and accused opponents of deliberately ignoring those interventions while focusing attention on Udomi.
He said those engaging in what he described as “pull-him-down politics” were merely seeking to create divisions through ethnic narratives, whereas the government’s objective remains opening up growth corridors and delivering development to the wider majority of Edo people.
