Many Sins Of Edo Deputy Governor, Philip Shuaibu Against Governor Obaseki

By Ayodele Oni

Embattled Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shuaibu, has said his decision to succeed Governor Godwin Obaseki next year is the cause of the strained relationship between the two of them.

Shuaibu, who got a relief from the Court on Friday which restrained the State House of Assembly and others from carrying out any impeachment against him, gave the genesis of the friction between him and his principal :

The Deputy Governor disclosed that despite interventions by prominent indigenes’ of the State including the Benin monarch, the Governor has vowed to remove him from office.

“Sometime this year, I made  clearly known my intention to contest for the post of Governor of Edo State upon the expiration of the tenure of the Governor Obaseki tenure in the year 2024 with my experience as the Deputy Governor of the State for eight years.

“Ever since I made known my intention, the Governor was not pleased and openly told me to jettison any idea of succeeding him in office, to which I refused and has since then become his enemy.

“The Governor has been doing all he can to prevent me from carrying out my official functions as the Deputy Governor of the State and has ever since refused to involve me in all matters pertaining to the State administration of which I hitherto participated and acted creditably with commendation.”

Shuaibu listed instances when Obaseki and his agents prevented him from performing his official functions.

“On Thursday, 13th July, 2023, a circular (letter) emanated from the Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) to all MDAs that all Ministries, MDAs including Local Government Councils should henceforth deal with Mr. Governor, saddled with the responsibility of Internally Generated Revenue, which used to come through my office.

“The office of the governor posted, as usual, the schedule of meetings of the Governor for Monday, 17th July 2023.

“Amongst the meetings for that day was the one scheduled for 11:00am with HOLGAs, bankers, tech partners, EIRS and Edo-GIS – which was to hold at the State Executive Chambers.

“Before the appointed time at the Exco Chambers, all the named persons and bodies, including the Deputy Governor and the SSG, were all seated.

“The said meeting for 11:00am at the State Executive Council Chambers however never held as Obaseki did not come to the Chambers for the meeting, but the attendees, except the Deputy Governor, were invited into the Governor’s Office by the Chief of Staff to Mr. Governor for discussion and dispersed from there.

“Since that day, the Office of the Deputy Governor has not been receiving any schedule of the meetings and events of the governor contrary to the existing practice and procedure in Government House.

“On Wednesday, 19th July, 2023 it was when briefs for the State Executive Council Meetings were forwarded to my (Personal Private Secretary) that I knew that there would be Exco meeting that day at 11:00am for the meeting at 10:00am as no schedule of Mr, Governor was sent to my office as it used to be.

“On Friday, 21st July, 2023 at about 3:45pm, I was going for an engagement outside the office when my Protocol Officer called the Chief Detail to inform him that there was going to be Security Meeting at 4:00pm as I saw Security Officers and Commanders in the Government House premises which placed me on enquiry and I got to know of it.

“On 15th June, 2023, I was informed that there was going to be a meeting at the governor’s house to determine the leadership of the House of Assembly, but when I got to the gate of the house, the State Security personnel informed me that I was not invited to the meeting and would not be allowed into the meeting.

“I called the governor over eight times on the phone, but he refused to pick my calls.

“The following day, the 16th of June, 2023 when I was to go to the Governor’s office, I met the gate between the two offices locked and on enquiry, the DSS personnel from the Governor’s office told my DSS personnel that they were under instruction not to allow me in or open the gate for me.

“While trying to know what happened, there was a meeting at the instance of the former Deputy Governor, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, between the governor, myself and Chief Mike Oghiadomhe.

“At the meeting the governor alleged that the reasons for his actions were that I was dinning with his enemies and that the only way our relationship can come back to what it used to be was for me to go to the public space (media) to renounce my interest for Governorship of the state.

“In spite of the intervention of well-meaning stakeholders in Edo State, including the Oba of Benin, Obaseki is hell bent on dealing with me and has vowed to use all machineries in his power to remove me from office as the Deputy Governor of Edo State.

“The governor has been holding meetings with key actors and players in Edo State Government, including the  Speaker and other members of the Edo State House of Assembly, with a view to coming up with spurious allegations against me and using unconstitutional means to remove me as the Deputy Governor of Edo State by way of illegal impeachment.”