Reinstated Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, along with members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legacy coalition, have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Philip Shuaibu defected during the Edo State APC’s inauguration of the National Working Committee for the Edo governorship election on Saturday.
The event was attended by prominent figures including former Kano State governor and APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje, Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu.
Also present were the Edo State APC Chairman, Jarett Tenebe, the Governorship Candidate Senator Monday Okpebholo, and Adams Oshiomole.
Shuaibu announced his intention to join the APC and was officially welcomed into the party by the National Organising Secretary.
This development came after Shuaibu accused his principal, Governor Godwin Obaseki, of denying him entry into the state.
The 54-year-old stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today two days after Federal High Court in Abuja ordered his reinstatement as deputy governor.
“Yesterday, I got intel that the governor has told his men that they must not allow me into town. I am a free-born of Edo State, nobody can stop me from entering Edo State,” he said.
“The constitution does not allow anybody to bar me from entering Edo State, not even when I am a deputy governor. Even if I am an ordinary citizen, I should have a right. I should have freedom.”
Shaibu recalled when he declared his intention to run for the governorship ticket under the PDP in November 2023, alleging Obaseki said he would destroy him.
Describing himself as a devout Catholic, the deputy governor said it is only God that can destroy man.
He vowed to continue fighting all through the electioneering period until the September 21 governorship election in the state.
The deputy governor also accused the governor of orchestrating Thursday’s attack in Benin City, alleging that Obaseki was keeping true to his earlier promise to destroy him.
“I didn’t know he (Obaseki) would arm them (gunmen) that much. I remember the governor saying during this crisis when I declared to contest for the governor that if I continued, he would destroy me.
“With what happened yesterday, it was obvious that it was an orchestrated attempt to actualise that statement that he was going to destroy me,” he said.
Philip Shuaibu also mourned the police inspector who was killed when his convoy and that of APC candidate Monday Okpebholo were attacked by suspected gunmen in Benin City.
Upon his return to Benin City on Thursday, both Obaseki and Okpebholo narrowly escaped death during the attack.
Tragically, Inspector Okon, who was assigned to Okpebholo, died in the shootout between the security operatives and the gunmen.
Obaseki Owing Me
During the show, Shuaibu expressed his commitment to preserving the integrity of the deputy governor’s office.
He accused Obaseki of undermining the office, claiming that he had not received his salary for the past year.
Shaibu added, “One of my main cardinal goals is to strengthen institutions. I am seeing the institution of the office of the deputy governor being destroyed by the governor for personal gain.
“That is why I am fighting to bring back the sanity of the office of the deputy governor not for my personal self. The governor has not paid me for the past year and I know he is not going to pay me for the remaining four months.”