[FILE] This photograph taken on September 19, 2020 shows a billboard showing incumbent governor of Edo State and candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Godwin Obaseki and deputy Philip Shaibu during the Edo State governorship elections in Benin City, Midwestern Nigeria, on September 19, 2020. – Hundreds of thousand voters gathered at the polls in Edo State, Midwestern Nigeria to elect a new governor or re-elect the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a second term, the first elections in Africa’s most populous country amidst coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP)
This paper dwells on the balance of power and politics in Edo State with a particular focus on Edo central. The choice of this topic by Edo-Okpa Unity Forum proceeds from the fact that Edo Central Senatorial District has been somewhat excluded from the mainstream of power distribution in Edo State. Perceptually, the power distribution has affected the wellbeing of the people from that part of the state. There is prevailing political socialisation in which the section of the population that controls the levers of powers tends to fend for that section only or ignore every other section to the pursuit of self-aggrandizement.