Every man needs his boys
Edo State governor has promised Tinubu 2.5 million votes in 2027
Good morning, Big Brains. It’s ridiculous how adulting comes with no manual. Yesterday, I tried to work smart by putting my pot of stew inside my microwave to heat it up. In my defence, I wanted it to taste fresh, and I had no idea that the pot handle was made of plastic. I am alive, but can barely say the same for my pot and microwave.
- Margaret
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Reading time ~ 5 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
The Edo State Governor has promised Tinubu 2.5 million votes in 2027
Israel is still attacking Iran despite Trump’s ceasefire deal
The Big Deal
The Edo State Governor has promised Tinubu 2.5 million votes in 2027
The 2027 election is still two years away, but President Tinubu’s boys are already riding hard for him. As a matter of fact, the president and Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State have bestied so hard that Okpebholo promised to “reward” the president with 2.5 million votes in the 2027 elections.
Okpebholo said this reward would be the people’s way of showing appreciation for Tinubu’s “love” and the “developmental strides” in the state. While welcoming defectors from the People's Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Okpebholo declared the PDP politically dead in Esan Central (his constituency), and bragged that Edo State is now APC.
Why is this a big deal?
We love to see a good display of bromance every now and then, but this one hardly qualifies as good. During the 2023 elections, the total number of registered voters in Edo State was 2,501,081. If we’re still working with that data, this means that Governor Okpebholo has practically promised to make sure that every registered voter in Edo State votes for President Tinubu.
The president doesn’t have the finest record of being the people’s choice, and making him the only choice is a non-democratic stretch, no matter how good a candidate he claims to be. That leaves us with one question: How exactly does this governor plan to deliver the votes of an entire state?
Whatever his strategy is, it’s definitely going to be shady because no election in Edo state, not even at the gubernatorial level, has ever ended with a 100% success rate for one candidate. The governor himself barely won the Edo state people over, defeating his opponent from PDP by only 44,012 votes.
It’s easy to regard Governor Okepebholo’s promise as pure clout, but this is Nigeria, and claims like that are dangerous because politicians stop at nothing to remain in the good books of political allies. During the last Edo election, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR) confirmed that voters were being offered bribes at polling units by APC and PDP members. If the governor truly decides to stick to his word, we won’t be surprised to see more cases of electoral fraud than ever before in the state.
It’s also a statement that should be taken seriously, given that he followed up with a bold claim that Edo state now belongs to the leading party.
This is coming after different public figures and stakeholders have accused Tinubu of attempting to eliminate opposition by turning Nigeria into a one-party system. Even though Tinubu denies these claims, it’s still interesting given how many PDP members, including a sitting governor, have conveniently defected to the ruling party.
If Nigeria turns into a one-party state, it’ll be a problem for every citizen. Without real opposition, democracy starts to lose its flavour. The whole point is to have different voices, ideas, and people holding those in power accountable. But if everyone keeps jumping ship to join the ruling party, who’s left to question the government or speak for Nigerians who don’t agree with the status quo?
Let’s just say 2027 is going to be a very interesting year.
Israel is still attacking Iran despite Trump’s ceasefire deal
If you already have a long list of nicknames for US President Donald Trump, you might want to add “peacemaker” or “peacemaker in training” to that list. Just hours after he announced that Iran and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire, Israel decided to test the limits of that announcement by bombing a radar site near Tehran, Iran’s capital
Trump is now resorting to scolding both Israel and Iran for violating the truce. He said he had to personally tell Israel to call off further strikes to preserve the ceasefire deal.
But the damage may have already been done. Eyewitnesses in Tehran reported hearing two loud blasts. Israel later confirmed it had hit a radar facility near the capital, claiming it was retaliation for missiles Iran allegedly launched after the ceasefire kicked in. Iran, of course, denied it and said it was Israel that didn’t respect the ceasefire start time.
Before the ceasefire took effect, the back-and-forth was deadly: four people died in Beersheba after Iranian missiles struck a residential building, while Iran reported nine deaths from an Israeli strike in the north.
Despite the mess, global markets are looking good, with oil prices noticeably dropping. Will this ceasefire happen later this week? You’ll have to keep reading The Big Daily to find out.
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This Week’s Big Question
Do you still believe in a “better Nigeria?”
Chosen’s response - Yes, I do. I’ve met people who give me hope that Nigeria can be better. I believe that if everyone plays their part and the right people are in the right places, everything will be fine.”
You can also share your response here, and if it’s as interesting as Chosen’s, we’ll feature it in the next edition.
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