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Inside Edo
Itua urges Edo Ex-Governor to return home from 'self-exile'
Written By: Ehioze Gilbert
01 Dec 2025 08:15 AM
Benin, Edo – In a pointed social media message that has ignited fresh tensions in Edo's polarized political landscape, Fred Itua, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Monday Okpebholo, has called on former Governor Godwin Obaseki to abandon his "self-exile" abroad and reconnect with his grassroots supporters back home.
The provocative post, shared on Facebook on Sunday, reads: "Obaseki, come home, meet and greet your active supporters. Hired urchins abroad? Too demeaning. Come home and embrace the warm hospitality of your ebullient supporters."
Itua's words appear to mock Obaseki's recent overseas activities, where the former governor has been vocal about alleged threats to his safety and criticisms of the current administration, while accusing him of outsourcing activism to "hired urchins".
The message quickly spread beyond Facebook, reposted on X (formerly Twitter) by Haruna Braimoh, a director in the United Nations-IPC Nigeria Mission Office, who framed it as a rebuttal to Obaseki's "hypocritical sympathizers" urging the government to ignore him.
This latest salvo comes amid a deepening rift between Obaseki and Okpebholo, who succeeded him as governor in November 2024 following a contentious election marred by allegations of irregularities.
Obaseki, a two-term governor from the People's Democratic Party (PDP) who defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2020, has been abroad since shortly after handing over power through his deputy, Phillip Shaibu, citing security concerns and vowing to expose what he describes as electoral fraud and ethnic incitement by the APC-led state government.
In a November 30 op-ed penned by Itua himself, Obaseki was branded a "loose cannon fanning global embers of hate," accused of twisting narratives to evade accountability for his administration's alleged mismanagement.
The piece defends Okpebholo's "calm leadership" in stabilizing the state, while dismissing Obaseki's claims of threats as ironic given his own history of polarizing rhetoric.
Itua wrote: "His fear is not Governor Okpebholo. His fear is accountability. His fear is that the fog of propaganda can no longer cover the damage he inflicted on institutions, communities and public trust."
The provocative post, shared on Facebook on Sunday, reads: "Obaseki, come home, meet and greet your active supporters. Hired urchins abroad? Too demeaning. Come home and embrace the warm hospitality of your ebullient supporters."
Itua's words appear to mock Obaseki's recent overseas activities, where the former governor has been vocal about alleged threats to his safety and criticisms of the current administration, while accusing him of outsourcing activism to "hired urchins".
The message quickly spread beyond Facebook, reposted on X (formerly Twitter) by Haruna Braimoh, a director in the United Nations-IPC Nigeria Mission Office, who framed it as a rebuttal to Obaseki's "hypocritical sympathizers" urging the government to ignore him.
This latest salvo comes amid a deepening rift between Obaseki and Okpebholo, who succeeded him as governor in November 2024 following a contentious election marred by allegations of irregularities.
Obaseki, a two-term governor from the People's Democratic Party (PDP) who defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2020, has been abroad since shortly after handing over power through his deputy, Phillip Shaibu, citing security concerns and vowing to expose what he describes as electoral fraud and ethnic incitement by the APC-led state government.
In a November 30 op-ed penned by Itua himself, Obaseki was branded a "loose cannon fanning global embers of hate," accused of twisting narratives to evade accountability for his administration's alleged mismanagement.
The piece defends Okpebholo's "calm leadership" in stabilizing the state, while dismissing Obaseki's claims of threats as ironic given his own history of polarizing rhetoric.
Itua wrote: "His fear is not Governor Okpebholo. His fear is accountability. His fear is that the fog of propaganda can no longer cover the damage he inflicted on institutions, communities and public trust."
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