Veteran journalist, Reuben Abati has reacted to the gaffe the Governor of Edo State, Monday Okpebholo, made while presenting the 2025 budget to the State House of Assembly.
Henzodaily reports that on Tuesday, Okpebholo struggled with the pronunciation of the budget’s numerical value.
Reacting on Wednesday during an Arise TV breakfast talk show, Abati said people of Edo State should live with Okpebholo for the next four years.
The TV host said the development could be likened to “what Edo people ordered versus what they were given.”
He said: “Well, I sympathize with the people of Edo State. The state that produced Professor Ambrose Ali, the state that produced my former teacher, Professor Osarime Osunbor, has now produced an individual who cannot even pronounce N650 million, finding it very difficult.
“I don’t understand this argument about being dyslexic and all of that. Well, it has to be medically proven. I think that what we are suspecting here is a question of ‘what Edo people ordered and what they were given.’
“You know they do this thing on social media ’what I ordered, what I got.’ This is a state that has Asue Ighodalo, who has been chairman of a bank, who knows about numbers, who knows about law, you know, who would have pronounced it very well.
“Now, democracy throws up its own tricks. This is what Edo State people said they have ordered. Let them live with it for the next four years.”