Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, may have gone to Osun State armed with a political jibe against Governor Ademola Adeleke, but his “dancing governor” attack has boomeranged into an uncomfortable demand: where is Okpebholo’s own scorecard?
What began as mockery over Adeleke’s dancing has quickly turned into a contest over numbers, with Paul Nosa Ogiehor challenging the Edo governor to abandon campaign theatrics and subject his own record to the same scrutiny he is demanding of Osun. Citing figures attributed to the National Bureau of Statistics, World Bank, Debt Management Office and BudgIT, Ogiehor said the real question for voters should not be whether Adeleke dances, but whether the government is delivering.
Okpebholo launched the attack while campaigning for the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Osun, Bola Oyebamiji.
At the rally, the Edo governor repeatedly derided Adeleke as a “dancing governor”, accusing him of neglecting governance and urging Osun voters to reject the incumbent administration.
But the attack has now triggered a data-heavy counteroffensive.
Ogiehor, who stressed that he was not speaking for Adeleke, said he was presenting the figures “for the sake of public sanity” and to challenge what he called “half-cooked and lazy commentaries” in the political debate.
His message was unmistakable: if Adeleke must be judged, then judge the government by its balance sheet, not its dance steps.
According to figures cited by Ogiehor, Osun’s internally generated revenue reportedly jumped from ₦27.7bn to ₦54.7bn in 2024—a 97.3 per cent increase.
He attributed the increase to tax harmonisation, digitalisation and efforts to block revenue leakages.
The counterattack became sharper on debt.
Ogiehor claimed Osun reduced its debt by more than 45 per cent and ranked third among Nigeria’s 36 states in debt reduction, while maintaining that the state avoided new borrowing for current projects.
Then came another potentially damaging comparison.
Citing BudgIT’s Q3 2025 State Fiscal Transparency League, Ogiehor said Osun scored 100 per cent and ranked first.
He also claimed the Adeleke administration cleared salary and pension arrears dating back to January 2016 and paid ₦4.3bn in pensioners’ gratuities from December 2022 to the period under review.
About 29,000 pensioners, he added, had been enrolled in the Osun Health Insurance Scheme.
Education also featured prominently.
Ogiehor claimed Osun moved from 33rd nationally in examination performance in 2022 to seventh, while 99 secondary schools were reportedly rehabilitated and six technical colleges restarted.
He further cited the state’s domestication of the Nigeria Startup Act, completion of Google mapping across Osun and the creation of an e-procurement portal which he said BudgIT had recognised as a transparency model.
On poverty, Ogiehor cited NBS data putting Osun’s poverty rate at 8.52 per cent, which he described as the third-lowest in Nigeria.
He also invoked World Bank data which he said indicated a substantial reduction in Osun’s infrastructure deficit, alongside improvements in other socioeconomic indicators.
The claims, however, remain those of Adeleke’s defender and should not automatically be treated as an independent verdict on the administration.
But politically, the damage may already have been done to the original line of attack.
Okpebholo did not merely mock Adeleke. He questioned how Osun had utilised resources made available by the Federal Government and urged voters to replace the incumbent administration with Oyebamiji.
He also accused Adeleke of irregular attendance at governors’ meetings, alleging that the Osun governor often arrived late.
The Edo governor further linked Adeleke politically with former Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki while selling Oyebamiji as the candidate capable of delivering better roads, schools and economic opportunities.
Perhaps the most controversial moment came when Okpebholo told voters to collect money allegedly offered by rival parties but vote for APC.
“If they bring money, chop that money from them but don’t vote for them,” he said.
Now, the political spotlight has shifted.
The question is no longer simply whether Adeleke dances.
It is whether Osun’s reported revenue growth is real.
Whether its debt reduction can withstand scrutiny.
Whether its fiscal transparency ranking tells the full story.
Whether its education figures are accurate.
Whether its pension payments and infrastructure claims can be independently verified.
And, perhaps most importantly, whether the man attacking Adeleke can put an equally measurable record on the table.
That is the political trap Okpebholo’s “dancing governor” jibe may have created.
If dancing is the measure of failure, then performance must be the measure of success.
And if the APC wants Osun voters to reject Adeleke over his record, the opposition must now answer a deceptively simple question:
What exactly is on Okpebholo’s own scorecard?
The Osun governorship contest may have started with dancing.
But the battle is rapidly becoming one over data, delivery and who can prove that the numbers are on their side.