The current impeachment saga troubling the Edo State local government system appears to be Governor Monday Okpebholo’s strategy of whipping loyalists of former Governor Godwin Obaseki in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into line and demonstrating that a new sheriff is in town. Based on the recent defections by some PDP council chairmen and councillors to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), watchers of Edo politics claim that the rumble in the local council system could be targeted at a possible re-run of the governorship election.

Is there a grand plot by the governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to undermine the local government autonomy being championed by President Bola Tinubu? That question has continued to reverberate across Edo State, where Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has descended on some elected Local council chairmen and councillors. Two developments lend credence to speculations that the APC leaders are at the forefront of the development.

On January 2, Vice President, Kashim Shettima, led some APC leaders, including those from the National Assembly and state governors to pay New Year homage to President Tinubu in Lagos State. In his remarks at the occasion, the President allayed the governors’ fears that local government autonomy was targeted at reducing their sphere of influence and political clout.

In a statement, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed that while urging a stronger collaboration between the federal and state governments, President Tinubu stressed that his commitment to local government autonomy was aimed at guaranteeing grassroots development.

“We will not fight within us. I will drive the change. You control your local governments. You can restore hope by effectively fulfilling what the people expect at the grassroots level. There were gossips that we had disagreements on local government autonomy. No. Just drive development at the local government. Nobody wants to take them away from you,” Tinubu was quoted to have declared.

https://guardian.ng/politics/impeachment-suspensionokpebholos-weapons-of-whipping-edo-council-chairmen-into-line/