The reinstated Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu, has given reasons why he fought hard to contest the forthcoming governorship election in the state despite the insistence by Governor Godwin Obaseki not to support such ambition.
Shaibu, who was impeached by members of the State House of Assembly, was recently reinstated by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The reinstated Deputy Governor said if Obaseki had been reasonable and spoken to him well in heat of the crisis, he would have contemplated dropping his governorship ambition and allow the governor have his way.
He said one of the reasons he did not backed down from the race was because Governor Obaseki was behaving like a military dictator despite being a loyal deputy to him.
Shaibu spoke on Wednesday when he paid a courtesy visit to the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja.
He maintained that he won the Edo State Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship primary because he had 381 delegates, who would have voted for him had not not been shut out of the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin where the exercise took place on February 22.
He said, “The truth is that the issues were all political. I declared to contest for the governor of Edo State. That is where the fight started.”
Looking pensive, the deputy governor told journalists that he did everything humanly possible to pacify his boss to no avail.
“He (Obaseki) said, ‘You cannot contest because I have my plans’. The next thing was that he would destroy me if I continued. For me, no man can destroy the plan of God. As an activist, that day I made up my mind that I was going to contest. As of the time our conversation was on, I was still consulting. I went into the race and I won it because I played high-powered politics. They are not politicians. They rode on our back to where they are. In the politics I played, I actually had 400 out of the 572 delegates.
“A week to the primary, I lost some and had 381. So I brought those 381 on the day of the primary but they were refused accreditation. They took the accreditation tags and gave to their appointees to go and do Aso Ebi reception at the stadium they call primaries. Now, the court has ruled that the delegates I had were the authentic delegates and the ones they brought were fake. So as it is, they have boxed themselves into a corner where I don’t want to go because it is a legal issue.
“We are in court and by the grace of God, I had already been vindicated by two judgments. What is critical is that I want to prove internal democracy must be respected and allowed to play. You can lobby, you can talk to people and people will understand. If the governor had shown leadership, maybe I wouldn’t have contested because I am not a desperate person. My ambition is not inordinate. I have an ambition to fix the state. If somebody else can agree that we collectively fix it, I will follow. But the governor wanted to behave like a military dictator. And for me, we fought. I have captained people that have fought for this democracy. I started from the youth wing. I am sure I am one of the top people you will mention for this democracy that we now have. And for me, I cannot watch this democracy be derailed and allow dictatorship to take control.”
He described as false the claim that he went away with 22 official vehicles after his impeachment.
According to the accountant-turned-politician, the governor bought only one official car for his convoy in the seven and a half years of their administration.
Shaibu said, “The easiest way to have a disagreement is money. Even my official entitlements, most of them I didn’t even apply for them. That is, anything that has to do with going to meet the governor to apply for anything, including my personal or official entitlement. I confined myself within the official salary that came to me. “Recently, I saw an advert that I should return 22 vehicles. Only one vehicle in the seven and a half years that the governor bought for my convoy. Only one. Every vehicle you see in my convoy, some of them, especially the Landcruiser I used for three years with a coat of arm and flag as staff car, the Prado I used as back-up for three years, was the same that I used as the Majority Leader of the Edo State House of Assembly.
“It was the third year of his first term that the governor eventually bought a Landcruiser jeep. Even when they were bringing the jeep, it had an accident on the way. We had to change the wheels and it took two weeks for us to fix it. I never made it an issue, because for me, anything that will bring trouble I was able to manage it. I am happy that I gave everything and I was never found wanting. I was not impeached because I stole money, I was not corrupt, or because of incompetence.
“Today, the court has also told us that what they said was gross misconduct was never a misconduct. They said I gave out government secrets. I have worked diligently with this man. I was asked to perform his duty as acting governor and I was able to organise the security system. I have not done anything wrong to warrant impeachment.”
When asked if he could ever forgive Obaseki for treating him as an outcast, Shaibu hesitated before nodding.
He said, “The only person that is perfect is the Almighty God. None of us created by God is perfect. One of the greatest commandments in the world is ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ If all of us can actually take to that commandment, there will be peace in the world. But I have just discovered that there is no perfect relationship with what has happened between the governor and me.
“From my own end, I gave everything. I gave all to have him succeed. Because, for me, it is about the state and the state in everything. So, I gave everything even my official earnings. I forfeited lots of my official entitlement. Why? It is because I didn’t want any trouble or disagreement.”
