Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, last Monday formally entered the 2024 governorship election in the state as he publicly declared his intention. He said he would contest under the banner of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Shaibu is going into the race, determined to confront his principal and Governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki, who is not in support of his ambition. He alluded to his political travails in the last couple of months, especially, and declared that he remained unbowed, even as he forged ahead against Obaseki’s unfavourable disposition.
The signs of what will come in the state emerged when Shaibu’s public declaration, which was earlier scheduled to take place at Eterno Hotels in Government Reserved Area (GRA), Benin City, was shifted late Sunday night when information filtered in that one of the Governor Obaseki’s support groups, “Obaseki Ending Well,” also scheduled an event at the same venue on Monday.
The development forced Shaibu to look for an alternative venue and he chose the sacred ground of a Catholic Church in Benin City, the state capital.
Addressing his supporters at the Bishop Kelly Pastoral Central, the new venue, Shaibu said that despite his predicament, his antecedents in the struggle for democracy were part of the propelling factors for him to move on to actualise his ambition.
Describing himself as a “100 percent Home Boy”, an allusion to the clamour that the next governor of the state must be someone who knows the state very well, and not someone ‘imported’, a veiled reference to the touted candidate of Governor Obaseki, Asue Ighodalo,
Opposition to Ighodalo has been fueled by claims that he is unknown in Edo State, a narrative that Shaibu has since advanced by declaring himself the homeboy who does not need to learn the ropes of governance, being familiar with the nook and cranny of the state.
Shaibu hinged his campaign on five pillars: Infrastructural development, economic diversification, education and sports.
Others are skills development and job creation, healthcare, social welfare system, agriculture, rural development, poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability, and transparent governance.
He said that while working closely with Obaseki in the past seven years, a solid foundation for progress had been laid in the state.
“Under our administration, we have seen remarkable achievements and milestones, but there is still much work to be done. I am aware of the need by the greater Edo people for a more inclusive government, a government of the Edo people, by the Edo people, and for the Edo people,” he added.
Speaking on what to expect from his administration if he wins the election, Shaibu said that his administration would be “a government of individuals who have been there, who know the pains and wishes of an average Edolite.”
He said that under his supervision, the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), grew impressively, which he attributed to the introduction of digital and cutting-edge ideas.
“Back in the day, you didn’t just call me ‘Mr Constituency Project’ for nothing. In my time as a legislator, I delivered 49 constituency projects at the state level and 13 solid constituency projects within my short stint at the federal level.
“I have fought the good fight for you my people, along the way, suffered humiliations and enjoyed many moments of victory, but I am thankful in all things. I have been pressed but not crushed, persecuted but not abandoned, badly hurt but not destroyed. I resonate with the tireless and irrepressible spirit of the Edo people. By the grace of God, nothing and no one can stop us. After all, I be original Edo son; your 100 percent home boy.
“This is why today, I stand before you with great conviction and resolve, as I declare my intention to run for the office of governor of Edo State under the platform of the PDP in the upcoming 2024 election,” he said.
In his first official reaction to the Shaibu declaration for the governorship race, the Governor Obaseki, declared on Thursday that his deputy, Philip Shuaibu, is free to contest the state governorship in 2024.
Obaseki, who asserted that Shaibu had the constitutional right to do so, said nobody had a right to discourage the deputy governor.
He, however, sidestepped the question of whether he would support Shaibu, saying his lone vote could not determine the latter’s fate.
Obaseki spoke to journalists in Bauchi at the end of a closed-door meeting with Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed.
Political Implication of Shaibu’s Declaration
The first implication of Shaibu’s declaration for governorship is that there is going to be a clash between him and Governor Obaseki.
It would be recalled that there was a feud between the duo and before it was resolved, Shaibu approached the court to stop what he called the plan by his principal to impeach him.
Not only did the crisis between them degenerate into a court case, Obaseki also relocated Shaibu’s office out of Government House.
The feud was later resolved after Shaibu publicly apologised to the governor.
But from what he said at the declaration, Shaibu has dared his boss and said nobody could disturb him from realizing his ambition to rule the state.
Now political analysts are foreseeing a repeat of the hostility between the governor and his deputy.
It was gathered that Shaibu’s ambition did not get the blessing of his principal who is backing another aspirant, even though he said openly that the deputy governor is free to contest the governorship election.
From the governor’s end, his supporters claimed that he concluded that the governorship would be zoned out of Edo North Senatorial District based on the argument that his estranged predecessor who is now a senator, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Shaibu are both from that area and he seemed to be favouring Edo Central Senatorial District.
It was further argued that Governor Obaseki feels that if by any chance the governorship goes to Edo North, it should not be Etsako West where Oshiomhole and Shaibu come from.
Aside Etsako West, there are Etsako East, Etsako Central, Owan West, Owan East and Akoko-Edo as the other local government areas that make up Edo North Senatorial District.
As a loyal deputy, Shaibu had enjoyed so much support from Obaseki that at a point he was seen as the most influential deputy governor in the country.
This has earned him several awards, especially in the area of sports which the governor had given him freely to handle. It was gathered that Obaseki was miffed at his ambition.
Political analysts believe that Shaibu has a grip on the politics in Edo North as until the last feud between him and Obaseki, he was solely in charge of all appointments from Edo North .
They have however observed that despite this, he has not been able to deliver for the PDP in elections. Other PDP leaders from that district include Chief Mike Ogiadomhe and Chief Dan Orbih, among others.
Speaking with TheWill, a political commentator based in Benin City, Mike Obakume said, “Shaibu is too desperate. He was said to have started the preparation for his governorship ambition immediately after the 2023 presidential election by forming a campaign group in all the wards across the state.
“Oshiomhole who handed over to Obaseki is from Etsako West. Shaibu is also from the same local government area. How does he think it would be proper politically for him to succeed Obaseki? What then happens to the other local government areas in Edo North and Edo Central thave have never tasted power?”
But, while reacting to the issue of zoning, Shaibu said Governor Obaseki was not in the best position to preach zoning ahead of the 2024 governorship election in Edo State.
He gave the variety of ethnic representations in his office as against what he said operates in Obaseki’s Government House as an example of the governor’s ethnic prejudice.
Further, he said that if Obaseki from Edo South believed in zoning, he should not have contested the 2016 governorship election when ordinarily it should have been the turn of Edo Central after stints by Edo South through Lucky Igbinedion and Adams Oshiomhole in Edo North.
Rebuffing the claims on zoning, Shaibu said: “It is only in my office that you have fairness, you have Esan, Benin, Owan, Etsako and even Igbo and Yoruba. Go to any office in Government House, you won’t find that fairness and equity that is being preached,” Shaibu said in an interview on Arise News Television.
Noting that Obaseki lacks the moral gravitas to talk on zoning, having taken the turn of Edo Central in 2016, he added:
“Equity and fairness means that in 2016, Edo Central should have been governor, not Godwin Obaseki and Philip Shaibu. So, if you want to talk about equity and fairness, in 2016 it should have been Esan’s turn, not the turn of the governor now. So, if the governor is talking about fairness, it should have been 2016 not 2024.” Shaibu said that Edo North has also never produced a PDP governorship candidate:
“Edo North is the only senatorial district that the PDP has not given a ticket since 1999. So, when you are talking about equity, fairness and justice, the only senatorial district that has not been given ticket is Edo North.”
“The governor has told him that it is not time for politics so that governance does not suffer. He maintains that at the appropriate time, attention will be given to politics, but he is not ready for that and wants governance to be abandoned for politics.” (TheWill)