Traditionally, Christmas has been associated with warmth, light, rebirth, and shared hope. This Christmas has arrived in Edo State, especially in Benin City, shrouded in spiritual and physical gloom. Streets that ought to be sparkling with joy are dim. Public structures that should stand for usefulness and order are instead shrouded in suffocating shadows. Offices that used to run smoothly now stumble through the day in periods of quiet and darkness. This is not a coincidental event. It is the direct result of government motivated by resentment, insecurity, and a destructive fixation on destroying a predecessor’s legacy rather than improving the welfare of the populace.
In a relatively short period of time, Governor Monday Okpebholo has shown how brittle progress can be when leadership is motivated by petty politics rather than policy intelligence. His careless attack on and ultimately withdrawal from the power supply agreement with Ossiomo Power is the most glaring and unacceptable example of this failure.
It was not a cosmetic arrangement. It wasn’t an experiment. Under the Obaseki administration, the provision of reliable, integrated energy to Edo State Government facilities in Benin City was a purposeful, forward-thinking program. Edo opted for innovation over justifications at a time when the national grid has come to represent failure, instability, and national humiliation. An independent power source increased efficiency, decreased long-term expenses, decreased downtime, and restored public service’s dignity.
Because the facts are indisputable, progressive sub-national governments throughout Nigeria are actively seeking embedded power solutions. In recent years, the national grid has collapsed several times. Distribution firms are overburdened. Power production is still unreliable. Edo State was keeping up with these realities. Edo was in front of them.
Governor Okpebholo, however, decided to eliminate this useful arrangement. Not because it didn’t work. Not because it couldn’t be sustained financially. Not because it was illegal. However, due to an irrational anxiety that views each of his predecessor’s successful initiatives as a political danger rather than a public benefit.
The repercussions are suddenly apparent, quantifiable, and extremely degrading.
The Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), a utility already burdened by lean capacity, legacy infrastructure issues, and systemic national limits, is now under tremendous pressure as a result of Okpebholo’s attack on Ossiomo Power. What was once a shared load has turned into an intolerable burden.
On good days, the amount of electricity available in my business and residential neighborhood has decreased to about two hours. Previously, we had an average of sixteen hours each day. There are periods of three days or longer without power in my office. Darkness is now commonplace. Where production used to flow silently, generators now howl. The cost of diesel is rising. Companies face difficulties. Families make a downward adjustment. This is real-time regression.
Under Okpebholo, the state secretariat itself has come to represent governance in a sad way. I only recently witnessed the restoration of electricity following a blackout that lasted more than a week. What came next was both bizarre and sobering. There was an unplanned, boisterous celebration among civil servants. Cheers reverberated through the hallways. There was a round of applause. There was a lot of laughter.
Under Obaseki, electricity, which was formerly taken for granted, had become a show, an uncommon occurrence deserving of celebration. The moral collapse of Edo’s current government was encapsulated in that moment. The state has fallen well short of acceptable norms when government servants hail the electricity supply as a miracle.
Stable electricity in government offices became the norm during the Obaseki administration. Competence had made it commonplace, so no one praised it. Under Okpebholo, light has become extraordinary and darkness has become the usual.
Infrastructure for electricity is not aesthetically pleasing. It is fundamental. It supports economic confidence, service delivery, productivity, and transparency. Long-term darkness raises operating expenses, encourages inefficiency, exacerbates corruption, and lowers morale. Every hour of blackout results in wasted man-hours, postponed paperwork, irate citizens, and unnecessary maintenance costs for generators and diesel.
Edo State and its local governments are receiving significant monthly allocations totaling several billions of naira at the time of this crash. Therefore, the Edo people have the right to inquire, without apologies, what exactly Okpebholo’s administration prioritizes if not the fundamental operations of the state.
Instead of a ceremonial breakdown of development, Christmas in Edo ought to have been a time of ongoing advancement. Rather, a politics of resentment has imprisoned the state. Projects are shelved due to ancestry rather than merit. Policies are abandoned based on origin rather than evidence. The role of governance has been reduced to that of an erase theater.
But darkness is unspun. It is not possible to rebrand Gloom. Official denials and staged propaganda are not as powerful as the lived experiences of the Edo people. Investors take attention. Companies take note. Employees take notice. Common people take notice.
The future is bleak if this trend continues. a state that is experiencing administrative inertia. A capital city is literally and figuratively losing its lifeblood. a workforce that has been trained to like crumbs. People are gradually learning to accept deterioration as the norm.
Leadership is determined by how prudently one maintains what works and enhances what doesn’t, not by how ruthlessly one rejects a predecessor. Obaseki does not own Edo State. It is not Okpebholo’s property. Both the living and the dead own it. Policies that are functional must put aside personal grievances.
Edo is darker this Christmas than it has ever been. However, no matter how deeply ingrained, darkness is never lasting. It gives way to bravery, modesty, and administration based on logic rather than animosity. The sooner this administration recognizes that reality, the sooner light will return to Edo State—not just to its structures, but also to its damaged sense of purpose and optimism.
