JARRETT Tenebe, the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) deliberately and condescendingly insulted Edo people on the Arise television live program earlier in the day in yet another twist to the ongoing governorship campaign in Edo State.
In a subtle way, — Tenebe admitted that the APC candidate — Monday Okpevhbolo is completely a waste to his party’s gubernatorial ticket. His outright falsification of available facts that Edo people can’t afford Dstv subscriptions did not only demarket his candidate; it gave room to the electorates to further beam searchlights on the person of Monday Okpevhbolo.
Tenebe’s claims and excuses that Okpevhbolo’s decided failure to participate in the Arise TV interview/debate is because Edo people are too poor to afford Dstv subscriptions are another way of shielding Okpevhbolo from public scrutiny on his ambition for the state. More troubling was Tenebe’s degrading and disparaging comment that Edo people are living in abject penury and unremitting poverty as a result of Governor Obaseki’s poor management of the state’s economy.
Deceptively, Tenebe avoided the question about Edo State being the highest salary-paying state and the first to increase salaries from N30,000 minimum wage to N40,000, and later from N40,000 to N70,000, payable to the least paid civil service in the state. As expected, Tenebe failed to own up to the known fact that it’s the APC’s anti-people policies initiated and propagated by former President Buhari and President Tinubu that have pauperised Edo State and eroded Nigerians’ purchasing power.
Standing facts on its head, Tenebe debunked the obvious truth that Edo State has a significant number of active social media users/handles. A quick search revealed that Edo State is among the top five highest social media users in Nigeria, with a significant number of citizens accessing news through platforms like Facebook, X, Tick-tock, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and the rest.
According to recent data — Edo State has approximately 2.9 million subscribers — closely following the leading state. Delta State trails with 2.1 million subscribers, while other states in the region have the following numbers: A kwa Ibom: 1.51 million; Cross River: 1.8 million; Bayelsa: 1.1 million. That is, the huge number of social media users is slightly below the 2.5 million registered voters in the state.
The above data contradicts Tenebe’s assertion that Edo people lack access to information due to poverty. In reality, the state’s high social media penetration rate indicates that citizens are actively engaged online and can access news and information, including political news, through various platforms as secondary sources of information.
It’s no surprise that Tenebe — the APC State Chairman is on the same degrading spot as his party candidate — Monday Okpevbolo. Given their shared affiliation with the APC behemoth, a party that dehumanized its own citizens, pauperized its people, and traumatized the populace with threats to govern the state and country on graves of the masses can’t be trusted.
Erasmus Ikhide contributed this piece via: ikhideluckyerasmus@gmail.com
