By Owen Eresoyen, Benin
As Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu marks his two years in office, as president and commander-in-chief, May 29th 2025, prominent Nigerians, especially those of the president’s political stock, the All Progressives Congress, APC, have been sending messages, reviewing the president’s performance and positive impacts, analyzing his policy decisions, supporting his courageous steps, and encouraging Nigerians to continue to keep faith with the president and APC government, assuring that there, sure, was a silver lining behind the dark clouds.
In his message of felicitation with the president on the occasion, Senator (Pharm.) Matthew Aisagbonriodion Urhoghide, who creditably represented the people of Edo South senatorial district from 2015 to 2023 with telling impact and remarkable upliftment in the socio-economic lives of the people of the district, scored President Tinubu high on his courage and firmness in taking bold, decisive steps, “where some faint-hearted political leaders had shied away from taking responsibilities for policies that had the potent possibilities of taking the nation to higher heights of meeting the people’s ultimate needs and desires.”
Senator Urhoghide, who spoke in an exclusive chat with Journalists on Monday,remarked that “President Tinubu would go down in history as one Nigerian president who stood his ground, and ventured to tread the difficult terrain of decision making where others doddered and faltered. For instance, every Nigerian leader, and even some presidential aspirants at the time, talked about the necessity of removing the subsidy on petrol, but none had the courage to do it, considering the backlash and barrage of vehement public discontent and protests. Today, the president is riding the tide and beginning to gain the confidence of Nigerians, who are beginning to see through his binoculars that there, surely, lies a silver lining behind the seeming dark clouds.”
He, therefore, enjoined Nigerians to continue to believe in “the efficacy of the president’s antidote to the hydra-headed national challenges,” insisting that “there comes a time in the transformational trajectory of a nation, when a determined political leader, must take a firm stand on the right way to go, even when it is not a wholly popular step. President Tinubu has found himself on this necessary threshold in the socio-economic and political development of the nation, and he has chosen to take these critical steps in the overall interest of the all round health of the nation.”
Meanwhile, Senator Urhoghide has again congratulated the Edo State governor, His Excellency Senator Monday Okpebholo, and the entire members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on the judgment, last week, of the Court of Appeal Abuja, which reviewed, and upheld, the initial ruling of the Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal that had earlier validated the election of Senator Okpebholo as winner of the September 21, 2024 Edo gubernatorial election.
Senator Urhoghide, who was the Director General of the Edo APC Campaign Council at that election said the judgment of the Court of Appeal, last week, “did not come to me as a surprise as it was obvious that the APC was massively on ground, and took its campaigns to every nook and cranny of the state, parading candidates who had grassroots appeal, with leaders that had proven their mettles in previous outings in government, leading the charge.
The people voted and it was clear from the results declared by the electoral umpire, INEC, that our party and our candidates got the majority votes. Our victory was really not in contention, as all indices pointed to our upper-hand performance. I congratulate the governor; and I congratulate our party.”
