Benin City – The Edo State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Hon. Paul Ohonbamu, has dismissed allegations by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) regarding the defection of lawmakers to the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the claims as “a lie by a dead party.”
In a statement responding to PDP spokesman Chris Nehikhare’s accusation that Governor Monday Okpebholo is offering N200 million to induce PDP lawmakers to defect, Ohonbamu said the allegations were baseless and a desperate attempt to remain relevant.
“The lamentations of the PDP will not help the dead political party survive the mass exodus of its members to the APC,” he said. “It is no surprise that PDP members in the State House of Assembly are moving to the APC—not because of any financial inducement, as Nehikhare claims, but because they are tired of staying in a collapsing party.”
Ohonbamu accused Nehikhare of fabricating lies to please his “paymasters” and insisted that Governor Okpebholo has no need to bribe lawmakers.
“For the information of Edo people, the governor will not give any money to induce members of the State House of Assembly to defect. The reality is that credible politicians in Edo now know where the political pendulum is swinging, and failure is an orphan.”
He attributed the collapse of the PDP in Edo State to the alleged failures of former Governor Godwin Obaseki, whom he blamed for the party’s defeat in the 2024 governorship election.
“The PDP should hide its head in shame for the social and institutional collapse orchestrated by Obaseki. I said it before the election: after 2024, history may not even remember that PDP existed in Edo State,” Ohonbamu declared.
He added that the PDP had become “a matchbox without matchsticks,” while Governor Okpebholo was using state resources for the benefit of Edo people.
“If lawmakers decide to defect, it is purely a survival strategy because Obaseki destroyed the PDP with his bad and wicked policies, leading to the defeat of their governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo,” he added.
Ohonbamu concluded by stating that the people of Edo were “tired of PDP’s lies” and that Nehikhare’s latest claims would do nothing to discredit the governor’s administration.
