BY AHMED AKANBI
The Chairman of Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State, Blessing Albert Ebhodaghe, has ordered commercial drivers operating from motor parks in the council to wear caps associated with the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ebhodaghe issued the warning during a visit to Onitsha Park in a video circulating on social media, where he said he was giving a “standing warning” to drivers in support of Governor Monday Okpebholo’s pledge to deliver 2.5 million votes to President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.
He directed drivers to wear caps linked to Tinubu and the APC or risk being denied access to the parks.
”The Governor of Edo State, he promised the President Bola Tinubu 2.5 million in the 2027 general election that the whole world is going to see. By the grace of God, we are totally behind him. We are going to deliver him, come 2027,” Ebhodaghe said.
The Chairman said he had gone round the town to sensitise drivers on the need to support the governor and the President, linking ongoing road projects to the political support being sought.
”Because if the road is not good, the driver cannot go. Am I correct? If the road is not good, you cannot apply anything. You cannot even find your daily bread,” he said.
He then issued the directive: “I wrote on no account to not see any driver put on his cap or any material that does not belong to the party. Any park I see anybody putting on another cap… there will be no friend to this vehicle.”
Ebhodaghe said he would personally monitor compliance and contact the leadership of the park if any driver was found wearing materials of another party.
”I will come here with a mobile phone,” he said, stating that he was speaking in his capacity as council chairman to “give order” and warning that “let nobody put on the cap.”
The remarks have drawn criticism from civic group MonITNG, which called on Ebhodaghe and Governor Okpebholo to clarify whether the directive was authorised, arguing that motor parks are public spaces where citizens earn livelihoods and should not be used to compel political allegiance.
The controversy comes less than two weeks after Governor Okpebholo on September 4 inaugurated chairmen of the 18 local government areas and charged them to strengthen grassroots structures to deliver 2.5 million votes for Tinubu, a target he had first announced in May and repeated in June.
The Edo APC reiterated the target after claiming victory in all 18 chairmanship and 192 councillorship seats in the July 2026 local government election, though it remains unclear whether the state government authorised Ebhodaghe’s specific directive on drivers’ dress code.