NB247
Impeached Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has declared support for the governorship candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress, Monday Okpebholo, ahead of the forth coming governorship election in the State.
Shaibu made the declaration on Sunday while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the 2024 Father’s Day celebration at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
The former deputy governor was one of the mass (altar) servants at the ceremony.
Shaibu had aspired to run for governor when he sought the ticket of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, but was denied.
He was later removed from office by the Edo House of Assembly for allegedly disclosing official government secrets.
His removal followed a long standing conflict with the Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
“I will support a homeboy. I came into the contest to be governor of Edo State because I needed governance to return to a homeboy, somebody who understands our plight and somebody who understands what the people are feeling,” he said
“We don’t want an outsider. We have experimented with an outsider and it is not working, so this time, we want a homeboy. We have only two home boys in the major political parties; one is in the Labour Party and one is in the All Progressives Congress.
“I chose to follow the homeboy in the APC. The man they are parading in the PDP is an outsider and we have also agreed that no more godfatherism in Edo. The man the PDP is parading is the godson of Obaseki and there is no way a godson can be governor of Edo State again.”
Shaibu said his action of supporting an opposition candidate is not “anti-party”, adding that Governor Obaseki had said everybody was free to choose who to support in any election.
“The governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, says that everybody has the right to support whoever he wants to support, but he also forgot that he doesn’t have the right to stop anybody from whom he wants to support,” he said.
“But I take one part from what he said: We all have the right to support whom we want to support, so it’s my right to decide who I want to support.”