Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo, has alleged that his deputy, Philip Shaibu, hatched a plan to kick him out of office.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that in a video, Obaseki said Shaibu has become desperate to succeed him ahead of the Edo governorship election in 2024.
Obaseki, in the video posted by AIT on Friday, said Shaibu went to Abuja and boasted that he has connections in Abuja and the national assembly and that they will help him take over as governor. Obaseki also said Shaibu contacted the leader of the APC in Edo state and offered to work with the APC to produce the next speaker of the House of Assembly.
Obaseki said he has repeatedly told Shaibu to keep his governorship ambition in check, but Shaibu has refused to listen. Obaseki also said Shaibu had been actively engaging with members of the APC at the national and state levels to negotiate his way into the ruling party.
He said, “He (Shaibu) went to Abuja and was boasting that he has connections in Abuja, that he has people in the national assembly, that they are all with the president now, that they will take care of him,” Obaseki said.
“That if he cannot get the ticket in PDP, he knows what to do.
“I kept quiet and said I thought we were together. But what struck me, and I have never said this to anybody, is that after I proclaimed the house of assembly, we were now going to elect officers.
“He was in Abuja, he came back that day. I am the chief security officer of this state. I get any information I need. But I have that responsibility to keep quiet and use the information properly.
“My deputy called the leader in APC, telling that leader that during the elections on the next day, particularly speaker of the house of assembly, that he has five members who are loyal to him and that he would like the seven members of APC to work with his five members of PDP to produce the next speaker.
“As far as I am concerned, that was not working in our common interest.
“Why would the deputy governor seek to have another speakership candidate outside of what the governor wants? Are we working together?
“That was when I knew we had a problem. That the deputy governor has become so desperate to take over that he would do anything, including carrying out a coup, against his governor.
“How can you say you are loyal and you will do such a thing?”
Recall that Shaibu, on July 28, approached a federal high court in Abuja with a suit to prevent Obaseki from impeaching him.
