Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State has adopted the soft power approach of governance from inauguration up to date and it is obvious this will be his signature going forward.
Soft power and Hard power are the twin concepts of contemporary Strategic Studies in International Relations and Diplomacy. It only portrays how nations and their custodians relate with other nations at the international arena.
Soft power is the method of achieving one’s goal with dialogue, diplomacy and attraction. This is different from hard power that is predominantly based on coercion, aggressiveness, assertiveness and sanctions. It is often said that every leader patents his own signature.
Senator Monday Okpebholo has achieved a lot in a span of four months with his soft power. He set a precedent during the 100 days programe of events when all the leaders of APC in the State with no exception joined him in all activities. It has never happened that all leaders from different divides, ideologies and goals will converge in celebration of the man, the governor.
That event shows how pockets of empires can be turned into a Commonwealth and Okpebholo achieved this not by coercion, threat or aggressiveness. But rather, he achieved it by means of respect, diplomacy, and strategic humility.
I am sure the Governor follows the admonition of the former American Secretary of State, Henry Kinssinger who wrote the book; ‘Leadership’, where he advised leaders to adopt strategic humility to score political goals. The post world war German Leader, Conrad Adenauer adopted the approach and brought Germany back into reckoning.
That is Monday Okpebholo who believes that one must stoop to conquer, apologies to Oliver Goldsmith, who wrote “She stoop to conquer”.
In the past government of Godwin Obaseki, we saw arrogance of power, politics of illusion, trivialization of people’s rights and it is a pathological fixation on the capture and use of raw power.
But Governor Monday Okpebholo’s government is a sharp departure from that approach which at best could be described as Hard Power with its devastating consequences. Soft power creates lasting relationships, and the results achieved therefrom, are enduring, which is necessary for the wellness of the society or State.
Interestingly, hard power creates immediate results that eventually run into a cul- de-sac. It leads to unwarranted political rancour, conflict that can even be expensive in terms of human lives. This accounted for the death of Obaseki’s government and the ruin of the PDP in Edo State, because impunity has a sun set. This is why I admire Governor Monday Okpebholo who has demystified governance and given ownership of it to the people.
Senator Monday Okpebholo was invited long ago to dine at the table of oppressors but he refused to take up the mega phone of oppression. He sees prosperity as a tool to advance society, unlike others who see it as a deity to be worshiped
From his activities and love for the needy, he can best be described as an anti elitist elite which makes the upper class think of him ” Okpebholo, our own, and not our own,” reminiscence of Helena’s assertion about Demetrius in Shakespeare’s Mid Summer Night Dream when she said – ” I have found Demetrius like a jewel, my own and not my own”.
I call upon Edo people to rise in unison and commend this noble son of the world, Monday Okpebholo, a man conceived in Heaven and delivered at Udomi, Uwessan, in Esan Central Local Government of Edo State for his achievements so far as governor of Edo State, with the use of soft power, a term coined by Joseph Nye.
Hon Paul Ohonbamu
Commissioner for Information and Communication, Edo State.
