Edo Govt Blasts Opposition Party Over Comments On Presco Land Revocation

The Edo State government has described the state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) recent comments on the Presco land revocation controversy as “ridiculous” and “comic relief.”

In a reaction yesterday, the state’s commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said the PDP’s intervention on the matter amounted to “crying more than Presco,” accusing the opposition party of behaving like a faction without direction.

“Each time they respond to issues around the state, they tend to privatise them, as though they represent their personal estates and interests,” he stated.

According to Afegbua, the party has been reduced to a spectacle. “Comedy is desirable to laugh off some of the follies being unleashed on their scanty members,” he added.

The commissioner argued that the PDP had no basis to jump into the Presco land debate, insisting that the secretary to the state government (SSG) had already provided clear and constitutional explanations.

“The statement issued by the PDP’s phlegmatic leadership in the state is as ridiculous as the present status of the party in Edo State, nay, Nigeria at large. If the PDP were to be the spokesman of Presco, one would have understood their tenor, but ranting for the sake of ranting makes their comic characterisation more appalling,” Afegbua said.

The PDP had condemned the handling of the Presco Plc land revocation by Governor Monday Okpebholo.

In a statement issued by its publicity secretary, Dan Osa-Ogbegie, the party alleged that the governor signed a notice on 21st November, 2025, revoking 13,545 hectares of Presco’s land before issuing a disclaimer six days later denying the action.

The PDP said the conflicting steps exposed “a government that does not understand what it signs, what it announces, or what it authorises.”

According to the party, the revocation targeted Presco Plc, described as Edo’s largest agro-industrial investment, which employs thousands and has been operating in the state for over three decades. Osa-Ogbegie claimed that anger from citizens and investors forced the administration into “panic mode,” leading to the dismissal of the EDOGIS managing director and the government’s assertion.