A former deputy governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has declared support for the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Monday Okpebholo, in the state’s forthcoming governorship election slated for September 21.
Shaibu claimed that Okpebholo, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Olumide Akpata, and himself were the “three homeboys” who entered the governorship contest.
He said he would support a ‘homeboy’ to emerge as the governor because he wanted the best for the state.
Shaibu made his position known on the sidelines of the 2024 Father’s Day celebration at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
He said the state Governor Godwin Obaseki has said that everyone could support the candidate of their choice, giving him the freedom to publicly back the APC governorship candidate despite belonging to the PDP.
“We don’t want outsiders, we have experimented, with outsiders and it’s not working, so this time around, we want homeboy.
“Today I came in as a homeboy, we have only two homeboys in the major political parties in Edo State. One is in labour, and one is in APC, and I choose to follow another 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.
“So the man the PDP is trying to portray in Edo now is the godson of Obaseki, and there is no way godsons will now be governor of Edo.” he stated.
Following an unresolved crisis between Shaibu and Obaseki over the former’s decision to succeed the latter, Shaibu was recently impeached by the Edo State House of Assembly.
The impeachment followed the adoption of the report of the seven-man investigative panel set up by the state’s Chief Judge, Daniel Okungbowa, to probe allegations of misconduct against him.
Of the 20 members present, 18 voted in favour of the impeachment, while one opposed it.
Shaibu had filed a suit at the Federal High Court seeking to stop his impeachment, but the Abuja High Court refused to grant an ex-parte motion.
A reporter with the ICIR
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