Philip Shaibu, the embattled Deputy Governor of Edo State, has refuted claims that Governor Godwin Obaseki was responsible for his political relevance, asserting that the opposite is true.
Despite being former allies, Shaibu and Obaseki are currently at odds, particularly over the upcoming governorship election in Edo State scheduled for September 21, 2024.
Shaibu, who was impeached by the Edo State House of Assembly over alleged misconduct, was reinstated by a Federal High Court.
However, Governor Obaseki has refused to recognize him, citing an ongoing appeal against the court's decision.
Commenting on the fallout between them on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, August 16, 2023, Shaibu berated the Governor whom he described as a political nobody before he came into office in 2016.
The Deputy Governor recalled that it took former Governor Adams Oshiomhole three months to convince him to support Obaseki to become governor.
“Obaseki was not a politician, even financially, Obaseki was not financially strong to even contest the election. Oshiomhole brought him and when Oshiomhole brought him, some of us argued that he could not be him. It took Oshiomhole three months to convince me and some of our supporters to support Obaseki.
“And when we decided because of the respect for Oshiomhole to support him, he did not bring money – we brought our resources and our friends to bring money and we brought our political capital to make him governor. So, when you are talking about deputy governors and governors, he is not the one that made me, I made him,” Shaibu said.
He stressed that he was persuaded to be Obaseki's running mate to add political muscle to the party's ticket because the latter was not a politician.
He accused the Governor of stopping all the funds meant for his office as the Deputy Governor to stop him from contesting the 2024 governorship election, revealing that he hasn't received any pay cheque from the government for the past year.
Following his reinstatement by the court, Shaibu attempted to resume duty as the Deputy and directed his staff to follow suit but he was thwarted by Obaseki.
In a statement, the Edo State government accused him of impersonating the deputy governor.
Reacting to the accusation of impersonation, Shaibu said Obaseki has shown how lawless he is.
”The holder of the office of the governor in Edo state today is lawless, Godwin Obaseki is lawless. If he is not lawless, he will not say Philip Shaibu is impersonating because there is a valid court judgment that he has been served.
”That is not the only court judgement he is not obeying and this is a governor that will not even follow policies of the government that he initiated," he stated.
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