By Crusoe Osagie

In the one year that Senator Monday Okpebholo has held sway as Edo’s helmsman, the Benin-speaking Edo South has suffered systematic economic asphyxiation, driven by a series of irrational, reckless and hostile policies and actions that have left in their wake, palpable retrogression and economic attrition.

From the unprecedented onslaught on the Museum for West African Art (MOWAA) and Radisson Hotel projects, to attacks on the Benin City Mall, Saro Africa’s expansive agricultural development, the Ossiomo Power Project, Okomu’s massive oil palm development, and now Presco’s ambitious oil palm programme, it has been a tale of targeted crippling and deliberate suffocation of assets and investments in Edo South, the Benin speaking part of the state. This troubling pattern reaffirms Okpebholo well earned title of the bull in Edo’s China shop.

It beggars belief that despite the critical role these investments play in driving the State’s economic growth and development, a governor who is supposed to superintend the State’s development has become the destroyer-in-chief, throwing caution to the wind and leading an unprecedented onslaught on projects that are the very drivers of the economy, all in clear hatred for the Benin-speaking Edo South?

While a few undiscerning in Edo South may link the unfolding reality to Okpebholo’s cluelessness, many in the region see it as a clear act of betrayal, given that it was an Edo South son, the immediate past governor, His Excellency Godwin Obaseki, who championed the push for power rotation to Edo Central, Okpebholo’s constituency, which had long been relegated in the state’s power calculus.

Okpebholo’s Attack on MOWAA jeopardises 30,000 Jobs, $80m annual revenue inflow

Okpebholo’s vicious onslaught against the stunning Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), one of the most despicable and embarrassing action of the APC government, has continued to trigger deep concern among Edo people at home and in the diaspora, particularly because of its massive economic and tourism potential.

The over ₦30 billion project, envisioned as a world-class tourism, research, and cultural heritage hub, was designed to transform Benin City into West Africa’s cultural capital. It has the potential to create more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs and contribute over $80m (£60m) annually to the region’s creative economy through partnerships, research, exhibitions, and cultural programming.

Unfortunately, that enormous economic promise now appears to have been stalled by Okpebholo’s hostility and targeted onslaught against assets and investments in Edo South.

Public outrage saves Presco’s over 13,000 hectares of cultivated oil palm plantation

Save for the public outrage that trailed the revocation of Presco plc’s Certificate of Occupancy, after the revocation document signed by Okpebholo and published on a full page of the Vanguard newspaper on the 26th of November 2025, went viral, over 13,000 hectares of fully cultivated oil palm plantations, valued in billions of naira, would have been lost to share envy of one Benin man, and the hatered the Benin-speaking Edo South.

With investments of Presco and Okomu, the two of whom are publicly quoted companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Edo is today reputed to have the largest area of land under oil palm cultivation in Africa. The state is currently Nigeria’s leading oil palm producer, contributing about 12 percent of the country’s aggregate oil palm production, closely followed by Akwa Ibom and Cross River States.

The oil palm industry in Edo State today is worth several billion dollars, providing employment for many residents, supporting host communities, generating revenue for the government, and developing an extensive value chain of industries that support their business. But the economic buccaneer will only be happy as long as investments in Edo South are crippled.

Edo back to darkness after Okpebholo dismantles Ossiomo Power

The 95MW Ossiomo Power Project, celebrated as a model of private-sector-driven energy reform, is also a casualty of Okpebholo’s unprecedented onslaught against assets and investments in Edo South. By terminating the firm’s ability to wheel out power from its plant in Ologbo, located in Ikpoba-Okha LGA, to central Benin City, through the revocation of right of way, Okpebholo successfully crippled the lifeline that powered industrial clusters, hospitals, government offices, and private consumers, throwing the entire Edo South and indeed Edo State into darkness.

Saro Farms share of Okpebholo’s onslaught leads to massive job, revenue loss

In Orhionmwon LGA also located in Edo South, Okpebholo also revoked thousands of hectares of fully cultivated farmland belonging to Saro Farms, one of Nigeria’s largest agro-allied companies. The irrational excision paralyzed operations, jeopardised food production, displaced workers, and stalled multi-billion-naira agribusiness investments. For a state that prides itself on its agricultural potential, the revocation is widely seen as a blow against both economic progress and food security, but what does Okpebholo care, as long as his onslaught against investments in Edo South is sustained.

Edo tourism sector suffers setback on back of attack on Radisson Hotel Project

In the tourism and hospitality sector, the governor sustained threats against the Radisson Hotel Group, is forcing the international brand to slowdown its pace on the Benin City project. This potential departure of such a globally recognised hospitality giant is set to erase prospects for job creation, tourism expansion, and international visibility. Unfortunately, another potential missed opportunity for Edo South.

With cultural, agricultural, energy, industrial, and tourism investments already hit in rapid succession, many are left wondering which project will become the next casualty of Okpebholo’s unprecedented onslaught against the Benin-speaking Edo South people as well as investments in their region.

Most Shocking and unfortunate however, is that the so called ‘ancestors’ seem to support the destruction of their own kingdom because the investments don’t personally and privately belong to them…very sad indeed!!!

As the sky falls over the Edo South economic landscape, who will come to the rescue of the Benin people? Who will remind the ‘ancestors’ that no kingdom can prosper when development is sacrificed on the altar of personal, or political interests? I rest my case on this piece with a popular Benin parable which is translated as follows: ‘If you pop out your eyes and go blind just because you cannot stand the sight of your enemy, you also will have no eyes to look at, and admire your friends.’

Osagie is the Media Adviser to former Governor Godwin Obaseki