In the grand, time-tested tradition of civil service not just in Nigeria, but anywhere pretending to run a functional democracy there exists a quiet, unsexy principle: neutrality. The civil service is supposed to be the engine room that keeps running regardless of who holds the steering wheel. Red, blue, green, or APC, the bureaucracy stays put, preserving institutional memory, executing policy, and ensuring that the state doesn’t crash into a wall every time power changes hands.
Enter Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Governor of Edo State, who seems to have looked at this fundamental pillar of governance and thought: āWhat if, instead of trained bureaucrats, we just hired an entire army of political party faithfuls?ā
Governor Okpebholo recently announced the appointment of 4,800 Special Assistants a staggering figure calculated neatly at 25 SAs for each of the stateās 192 wards. The stated objective? To “strengthen grassroots governance” and reward party members for securing victory. As the Governor candidly put it, “Appointing 4,800 SAs is not an issue at all because we all work for this victory.”
It is a charming sentiment for an APC victory party, but as a blueprint for public administration, it is a looming disaster.
The Great Patronage Parade
Letās call this what it is: the wholesale conversion of public office into political patronage. When the APC State Chairman, Jarret Tenebe, gushed that the administration was giving the party āopportunities to participate in governance,ā he accidentally said the quiet part out loud. Government appointments are no longer about competence, technical merit, or administrative capacity they are political party favors distributed via ward chairmen.
When you pack the administrative machinery with 4,800 individuals whose primary qualification is holding an APC membership card, you don’t “deepen governance.” You turn the civil service into a glorified party wing.
The Institutional Memory Purge
The real crisis won’t hit today while the music is playing and the political appointments are being celebrated. It will hit when the political pendulum inevitably swings.
What happens when a new administration from a different party assumes office?
History is a relentless teacher: the inevitable cull will follow. A fresh governor will take one look at 4,800 partisan appointees, declare them an opposition Trojan horse, and show them the door in one fell swoop.
When you purge thousands of political appointees masquerading as public servants, you don’t just clear out payroll bloatāyou wipe out entire years of operational knowledge, project continuity, and administrative records.
- Continuity of governance becomes a complete mirage. Projects started under one regime are abandoned not because they are bad policy, but because they carry the stink of the previous partyās ward operatives.
- Professionalism is suffocated. Career civil servantsāthe ones who actually know how to draft budget lines, manage public records, and keep the lights onāare sidelined in favor of political cheerleaders.
- The taxpayer picks up the bill. Funding 4,800 SAs is an enormous drain on Edo State’s resourcesāfunds that could otherwise build schools, repair roads, or equip hospitals.
A State Left Holding the Bag
Governing a state is not the same thing as managing a political campaign. Campaigning requires rewarding loyalty; governing requires competence, continuity, and institutional stability. By blurring the line between the ruling party and the permanent bureaucracy, the Okpebholo administration is setting a dangerous precedent.
When public administration is reduced to a party spoils system, the civil service loses its backbone. And when the political tides shift, Edo State will be left starting from scratch once again poorer, more fragmented, and minus its institutional memory.
Political parties come and go, but the state remains. Diluting the permanent civil service for temporary political applause is a bargain where the political class wins, and the people of Edo State lose every single time.
