Honourable Charity Aiguobarueghian, the member representing Ovia North East 1 Constituency in the Edo State House of Assembly, and the minority leader has formally defected to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The lawmaker revealed that he has formally defected to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) on the 4th of May, 2026, due to the PDP factional problem.
Aiguobarueghian expressed that he was part of the Turaki faction, as opposed to Wike’s faction, and that evidently, their side of the party was targeted for destruction and there was no hope for the members. "As a young politician who wants to grow and achieve more, I decided to join a party that aligns with my basic principles and thoughts.
Interestingly, it is the party that was birthed by strong PDP stakeholders, led by Senator Seriake Dickson, former governor and lawmaker in Bayelsa under the PDP, who promoted a new party."
"The new party is like Noah's Ark, and I have been nominated to fly the flag of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the House of Representatives in Ovia Federal Constituency. I have not left the PDP to betray the party that once gave me the opportunity, but I had to leave. If a house is on fire, you don't wait to be consumed by the inferno to prove bravery. You have to jump out first before talking about salvaging the situation. That is exactly what happened, and I am happy to have taken this step at the right time, because from what we gathered last week, the PDP faction we belonged to could not sponsor candidates for election. That would have been our fate. We are happy we took proactive action to contest in the coming election."
Moving on, Aiguobarueghian spoke about moving up from the House of Assembly to the House of Representatives. He said he has positively affected his constituency by delivering all the promises made, and now needs to move to a bigger level for bigger projects, which is the House of Representatives.
Speaking to journalists, Aiguobarueghian explained his style of representation. He said he does not assume what people need or force projects on any community, but rather requests their needs.
"I used to go to villages, asking what they want, and that is what I intend to continue. I don't want to assume on my own what a particular village will need. It is the village that will tell me what they desire at that time, and I will go ahead and execute it for them to ensure they get what they want. I have the story of a place where a borehole was sunk for them to fetch water, and the women continued going to fetch water from the stream. When they were asked why they were fetching from the stream instead of the borehole, they explained that it was the time they went to the stream that they had the opportunity to gossip, and the gossip was very important to them. They would have preferred that their market was built instead of the borehole. So, at that time, the borehole was not the most important thing."
Citing Ekosodin village as an instance, Aiguobarueghian said, "I went to meet them on more than three occasions to ask them what they wanted, and they kept saying they wanted a Town Hall to be built for them. But I was thinking of a market for them. They said, 'No, it's a Town Hall.' Let us imagine I had not consulted them; I would have gone to build the market, and they would not have liked it."
Speaking to some University of Benin students, one who is an Ekosodin indigene fact-checked the Town Hall and the representation of Hon. Charity Aiguobarueghian.
Lucky Omobude spoke about the development of Ekosodin village. He described Aiguobarueghian’s representation as rare and the best. He confirmed that the Town Hall requested from the lawmaker was built for them. Omobude also revealed that the fees of students who could not pay were paid by Hon. Charity Aiguobarueghian.
Talking about the students' community at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Ugbowo, Aiguobarueghian confessed that he is for the students' community. "UNIBEN is the school I attended. The school I graduated from, I also did my Master's degree there. As we speak, I am schooling in UNIBEN; I am doing my PhD there. So I go to class, I see what is happening in the school."
He said, "Unfortunately, I could not do much for them as a member of the House of Assembly because it is a federal institution, and its budget is not within our reach. But now that we are going to the federal level, we are going to put our eyes on the papers. UNIBEN must be properly and adequately budgeted for.
"We are going to ensure that those basic things, especially electricity and water, which have been perennial challenges, are solved once and for all. Now that the world is going solar, we are not going to be talking about the regular grid, but we will give them a power farm that can supply the whole school. Nigeria has the financial muscle.
"Therefore, if you have a student or anyone in the students' community agitating for that to be done, then expenditure and execution will be the watchword. What I am saying is that UNIBEN’s welfare should not be preached to me. I am the one preaching it to people." Aiguobarueghian concluded.