Edo State governor-elect of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Monday Okpebholo, on Thursday, said he is expecting a congratulatory message from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially its candidate who lost in the just-concluded gubernatorial election, Asue Ighodalo.

Okpebholo, who received his certificate of return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before visiting the Presidential Villa to meet with President Bola Tinubu, said he would be a servant leader to the people of Edo State.

The governor-elect, who also extended a hand of fellowship to his opponents in last Saturday’s governorship election, said, “I am coming as a servant to serve Edo people, which is what is required of me, and that is exactly what I am going to do.”

He, however, revealed that he was ready to work with the opposition and accommodate only quality-bearing and useful ideas to raise the bar of governance and development in the state.

Okpebholo said, “For me, I’m coming as a servant to serve the Edo people. That is what is required of me, and that is exactly what I’m going to do. So, very soon, you will see a lot of development coming up in Edo.

“We are going to employ teachers. We are going to renovate our schools…a lot will be happening over time. So, with time, you will recognise that a new dawn has happened.

“If they have an idea that is beautiful and acceptable to the people, then why not? My door is open to everybody.”

He urged the opponents to accept the outcome of the election and proceed to congratulate him on the resounding victory.

“If I had lost, I would have borne it, and I would have, by now, congratulated the winner. So, I’m expecting them to congratulate me,” he said.

Former Governor of the State, Adams Oshiomhole, said the state is now blessed with a governor they can easily relate to.

According to Oshiomhole, who was the former National Chairman of the APC, governance is not necessarily about building roads and schools but about leadership that is compassionate and listens to the feelings of the people.

He said, “Only God can confer power. Man can make all the effort. If God chooses not to crown it, it will be in vain. So politicians campaign in vain unless God campaigns for you. And I think that is our case, and I am excited not only for the fact that we have reclaimed Edo State, almost in the same manner that we reclaimed it from PDP in 2007, before Obaseki took it away from us.

“My joy is the fact that Edo people will now have a governor they can hug, touch, and feel, and a governor that will open the doors. Edo State people now have a governor who will not send pregnant women to jail on account of a N20,000 fine by a mobile court, and who might end up delivering in prison.

“We have a man with compassion, with human feeling; because governance is not just about building roads and schools. It is that human touch—a governor with empathy, humble enough to recognise that public trust is not like a corporate chief executive. A corporate chief executive can behave the way he wants because he heads the business and it is his father’s money.

“But with public trust, the vote of the labourer and the vote of the professor, the vote of the pauper and the vote of the wealthiest person—one man, one vote—is equal. And so, we have a governor who understands this, and who went through this process just about a year ago, and his people entrusted him with the senatorial representation in Edo Central. And what is going for him is precisely what the other guys fail to understand.

“The fact that he’s at home with the ordinary man, is at home with the ordinary woman. He understands the challenges of the rural poor. So they are all excited now that they are back again with a governor they can say, ‘this is my governor.'”