Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo has approved the appointment of 4,800 Special Assistants across the state's 192 wards, with 25 SAs allocated to each ward, sparking debate online over the scale of the appointments.
Okpebholo announced the move at a meeting with APC members from the state's 18 local government areas at the Government House in Benin City, describing it as part of efforts to take governance to the grassroots. "Appointing 4,000 SAs is not an issue at all because we all worked for this victory. The victory does not belong to Okpebholo alone," he said.
Edo APC Chairman Jarret Tenebe said the state's ruling party working committee had set up a process to engage with wards, ensure compliance with selection guidelines, and compile the names of qualified nominees before submitting them to party headquarters, suggesting the appointments are still at the selection stage rather than finalized. The announcement has drawn mixed reactions, with some questioning the cost and scale of the appointments given past comparisons — former Governor Godwin Obaseki had 186 senior special assistants and advisers during his tenure.