By Ayodele Oni
The crisis between the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, and his Deputy, Philip Shuaibu, is getting grave following allegation by the Governor that his Deputy once assaulted his driver.
The Deputy Governor had alleged that his resolve to succeed the Governor was the cause of the strained relationship.
Shuaibu got a restraining order from Abuja Federal High Court to stop him the Governor and the State House of Assembly from impeaching him.
But short of dismissed his Deputy as irresponsible, Obaseki described him as indiscplined. Said the Governor: “Imagine a Deputy Governor who insists that all other vehicles on the Governor’s convoy must be behind his own vehicle when he and the Governor are travelling together.
“A particular driver in the Governor’s convoy on a trip to a Niger-Delta State in 2020 was beaten to stupor under the supervision of the Deputy Governor and his wife, Maryann.
“His (driver) crime was that he dared to overtake Shaibu’s vehicle in order to catch up with the Governor’s convoy, where he is supposed to be.”
A statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor, Crusoe Osagie, described Shaibu, as a spoilt child with the attitude of self-entitlement.
Obaseki also said Shaibu is bullish and indisciplined who “on sundry occasions saunters and gallivants into the State Executive Council (SEC) meetings while the meeting is ongoing and the Governor already superintending.”
The statement said, “Like the biblical sinner who runs when no one pursues him, Shaibu has ran to the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking for a restraining order to stop Governor Obaseki from impeaching him – which is at best, a completely false allegation.
“The rabble-rouser Deputy Governor has now taken his indiscipline and hubris to the zenith by trying to create crisis because of his inordinate and self-serving ambition to succeed the Governor by all means, no matter whose ox is gored.”
