Governor-elect, Mr Monday Okpebholo has said he would have by now congratulated the winner of the governorship election conducted in Edo State last Saturday if he lost the election.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Okpebholo said this while briefing State House correspondents, after presenting his certificate of return to President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa on Thursday.
Okpebholo said his election as Governor of Edo signals a new dawn for the State while promising to work with the opposition if they had good ideas.
“I think Edo people have spoken with their votes. For me, I’m coming as a servant to serve the Edo people. That is what is required of me, and that is exactly what I am going to do.
“So, very soon we will see a lot of developments coming to Edo. We are going to employ teachers, we are going to integrate our schools, a lot will be happening over time,” he said.
Okpebholo promised to run an open-door administration and urged those who lost to bear the loss.
“If I had lost, I would have to bear it and I would have by now congratulated the winner. So, I’m expecting them to congratulate me,“ he said.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole, who accompanied the Governor-elect, said God made Okpebholo’s victory possible.
“God confers power. Man can make all the efforts but if God chooses not to crown it, it will be in vain. I am excited that we have reclaimed a new state almost in the same manner that we reclaimed it from PDP in 2007 before Obaseki took it away from us.
“My joy is the fact that Edo people will now have a governor that they can hug, they can touch, they can feel. And a governor that will open the doors,” he said.
According to Oshiomhole, the governor-elect is at home with the ordinary people and understands the challenges of the rural poor.
“So, they are all excited now that they are back again with a governor that they can say, this is my governor. Incidentally, his name translated in English means the rescuer. And so God has brought him to rescue Edo people, to restore integrity, to rebuild our schools, to employ teachers so that parents don’t need to contribute money to pay teachers.
“Edo people cannot wait to see a new approach to governance; government of the people, by the people, and for Edo people,” said Oshiomhole.
He appealed to those that lost the governorship contest to accept it in good faith: “That you have lost doesn’t mean it’s all over for you.
“You can’t win until the time that God has appointed. So my advice to them is to accept the result,” he said.