Edo: Unending stand-off between Obaseki, Shaibu as handover day nears

The rift between the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki and reinstated Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, festers as there seems no end in sight to the crises rocking governance in Edo State, writes ADEYINKA ADEDIPE

The twists in Governor Godwin Obaseki and Philip Shaibu’s feud seem unending as every new week comes with fresh subplots that make moviemakers green with envy. Unlike in Nollywood where, oftentimes, it is easy to guess the end of a movie, the drama playing out in the Edo State political space is full of suspense which makes the end difficult to predict.

The September 21 governorship election won by the All Progressives Congress candidate, Monday Okpebholo, seems not to have taken the steam off the feud as Shaibu, who was reinstated by the court after his impeachment by the state House of Assembly, inspected some projects on Monday. This singular step was met with a huge condemnation from the state government.

Politics is supposedly an endeavour where permanent friends and enemies do not exist. What drives those involved in the endeavour is personal interest, which may cause them to fall out with one another if their interests do not align.
More often than not, politicians have shown that they cannot manage their differences, which snowball into bigger problems, with the people they are expected to represent and serve bearing the brunt.

With the incumbent government expected to handover on November 12, it is clear that Obaseki and Shaibu rift may extend beyond the current tenure as Obaseki, who is said to be currently “resting” in Lagos after his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, lost the governorship election, is expected to jet out of the country after his annual leave is approved by the state House of Assembly.

No one would have thought that these two gladiators would be involved in an irreconcilable difference at this time, considering how they acted like blood brothers mid-last year before they fell apart. They jointly waged a ‘political war’ against a former governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole, with Shaibu taking the lead role. They accused Oshiomhole of playing godfather which he (Oshiomhole) vowed to erase from the political space in the state while he was governor.
Trouble started when Shaibu was accused of abandoning the swearing-in of commissioners last year in Benin to attend the inauguration of the National Assembly, where he met and fraternised with Oshiomhole, who was not on good terms with Obaseki and Shaibu at that time.

Shaibu also incurred the wrath of his boss when he made public his intention to succeed the governor. At a meeting, the governor was said to have told his close allies of his desire to take the governorship seat to Edo Central, which favours the former chairman of Sterling Bank, Asue Ighodalo, who also enjoys the backing of the governor.

Fearing a backlash as the rift deepened, Shaibu approached a Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the possible impeachment moves against him. In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1027/2023, the Inspector General of Police, the State Security Service, the Governor of Edo State, the Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, and the Chief Judge of Edo State are the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth defendants, respectively. Shaibu sought an interlocutory injunction restraining the third, fourth, and fifth defendants/respondents, or their agents from commencing an impeachment process against him. He also prayed the court to restrain the governor of the state or another person acting on his order from harassing and preventing him from effectively discharging his duties as the deputy governor.

The governor, however, denied knowledge of plans to impeach his deputy while he accused Shaibu of planning to defect to the All Progressives Congress. He also said he was sure his deputy was desperate to become governor instead of allowing the government to finish strong and deliver on its promised dividends of democracy.

Obaseki said, “There is no plan to impeach my deputy, Comrade Philip Shaibu. Shaibu’s move to seek a court order to stop his purported impeachment is preemptive ahead of his defection to the All Progressives Congress.

“The deputy governor has been actively engaging with senior actors both at the national and state levels of the APC, negotiating his way into their party, and he is on the verge of finalising moves to defect to the APC.

“Philip Shaibu has never had the courtesy to discuss his ambitions with me. The last time we spoke of my successor after the House of Assembly election, I did say that we should be patient and that our task is to try and finish well and conclude all the projects we started.”
Obaseki seemed to have responded to his deputy’s “insubordination” by bringing revenue collection under the direct supervision of the governor’s office, which will include that of the local governments, formerly under the deputy governor’s office while the Ministry of Sports is under the deputy governor’s office.

The rift between the two came to a head in September 2023 as the deputy governor’s office was relocated to a building outside the Government House. With the relocation of his office, he was no longer part of the executive meeting and was schemed out of the decision-making in the state. A retreat was held in Lagos for top government functionaries without the deputy governor. On August 27, 2023, one of the governor’s security aides prevented Shaibu from meeting Obaseki at the interdenominational thanksgiving church service to mark Edo’s 32nd anniversary at the Government House.

Despite this, the deputy governor pledged his loyalty to his boss, calling Obaseki his elder brother. He added, “My loyalty to the governor remains absolute. I see that everybody is in solidarity. I am also in solidarity with the governor. I am also declaring my unalloyed loyalty to the governor and nothing more. As for the issues that were around town when I was away, I really would not want to talk about them, especially about the governor. He is my elder brother and boss and I don’t think I should talk about anything.”

While residents were hoping that the situation would not degenerate any further, on August 28, 2023, Shaibu stormed out of the venue of a government function after some members of his media team were denied entry by security officials. The state government disbanded the media team the same day and placed Shaibu media activities under the office of the Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare.

The battle moved to the day of Shaibu’s declaration for the governorship seat. The event, which was earlier scheduled to take place at Eterno Hotels, GRA, Benin, was shifted a night before when information filtered into town that one of Governor Obaseki’s support groups, “Obaseki ending well”, also scheduled an event at the same venue on the same day and time.

This forced Shaibu to look for an alternative venue and chose a facility at the St. Paul Catholic Church, off Airport Road in Benin. Shaibu, who said he had weathered unpleasant political stones, noted that nobody could halt his ambition.

The destruction of Shaibu’s campaign posters on December 11 by suspected agents of the state government also added fire to the rift. Speaking on Lagos Street after inspecting one of the dismantled billboards, the deputy governor said the destruction would not help. At the opening ceremony of the Correspondent Chapel on December 19, Shaibu also revealed that his office had not been paid six month’s allowance due to the tension between him and his principal. He said he had been running the office and doing other activities through goodwill and contributions from friends.
He said, “You know there is tension between the governor and me. And for six months, there has been no allocation to my office. So, whatever I am doing is from contributions from friends and my goodwill; and I am still standing very strong.”

The rift between the two took another dimension as N354m  was allocated to the deputy governor’s office in the 2024 budget. From findings, the governor’s office got an allocation of N19bn, the Secretary to the State Government Office got N8bn, the House of Assembly, N13bn while the Head of Service’s office got N968m.
When many thought the rift between the two was simmering, the weekly Tuesday Mass which was held in the compound of the deputy governor’s new office instead of the Government House chapel reopened the rift.

An official in the chapel in a video said they got a directive from the Senior Special Assistant to Obaseki on Religious Matters, Rev Osagie Ehrunmwunse, “to come and remove ‘our things’ from the chapel, including the station of the cross, the pulpit, and other items.”

The official added, “I told him I would inform the deputy governor to know where to relocate the items and we went to remove them the following day. I was shocked when I heard that I went there to do a video. They ordered us to remove our things which we did.”

However, a statement by the Special Adviser to Obaseki on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, said the video in circulation was fabricated by mischief-makers.

He added, “It is imperative to state categorically that the Government House chapel is very much in operation and attending to the spiritual needs of the occupants of the Government House. It is necessary to stress that the governor and his wife are ardent Christians and it is, therefore, illogical that they will shut down the chapel in the Government House.
“We urge members of the public to disregard the rumour as it bears no iota of truth. The government will continue to promote religious freedom and harmony within the state.”

The primary election of the party, which threw up Asue Ighodalo, also deepened the rift as delegates loyal to Shaibu went to court to challenge the outcome which they lost.

Not done with castigating Shaibu for his “many sins,” the Edo State House of Assembly impeached him on April 8, 2024, and another legal battle ensued which went in favour of Shaibu, who got a declarative judgment reinstating him as the deputy governor.

Before Shaibu got the judgment, the state government had appointed Godwins Omobayo as the new deputy governor and did not deem it fit to bring back Shaibu, who noted that the judgment he got meant that he should be reinstated before the government could take further legal action.

When he arrived in Benin with Okpebholo on June 18, he was attacked by hoodlums and a police officer attached to Okpehbolo, Insp. Akor Onuh was hit by the bullet and later died. Also, amid the reinstatement saga, Shaibu returned to the APC after initially joining the PDP alongside Obaseki before the 2020 election, following Obaseki’s disqualification from seeking a second term under the party’s ticket. Shaibu worked with other political heavyweights who had deserted the PDP to deliver Okpebholo as the governor-elect, with Dennis Idahosa as his deputy in the September 21, 2024 election.

On Monday, Shaibu made his way back to the citizens’ consciousness as he inspected some ongoing projects in the state capital, Benin, noting that he has since resumed and is ready to work with Governor Godwin Obaseki. He inspected the Raddison Blu Hotel, the Museum of West Africa Art, Sepele Road and roads under construction in the state capital.

Speaking after the inspection, Shaibu said the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) was 80 per cent complete. He, however, said the Central Hospital should have been located on the land.
He said, “Work is about 80 per cent completed at MOWAA. It’s fine but I have my reservation because the Central Hospital should have been on that land.

“I have since resumed after my reinstatement. The issue of reinstatement should be a thing of the past. I don’t think we should be talking about it. Judgment has been given. We should move forward.

“The issue is if I can work with Obaseki. Can I work with him? I can work with him, but he cannot work with me. The office of the Deputy Governor is not under Obaseki. It’s an office created by the Constitution.

“I will be going round in the next two weeks starting with Edo South, then Central and Edo North to check what we have done. A new sheriff is in town and we must hand over to him. That’s where we are. I am doing my work as deputy governor of Edo State.”

When asked if the museum would be reverted to a hospital, he said, “I am not the governor-elect. The governor-elect will do what he wants with the museum when he assumes duty as governor of Edo State. My role as deputy governor is to discharge my duties accordingly.

“I have come to inspect what is going on here at the museum. We went round other projects too. Administratively, some issues have to be sorted out. There are administrative issues at Raddison Blu which have to be sorted out.

“In the next six weeks, we have to put things in proper perspective, so that the next sheriff will know where we are. I am doing my work as deputy governor. I am on the ground and not in exile.”
Reacting, the Edo State government warned Shaibu not to act in breach of extant laws. In a statement on Monday, Osagie warned Shaibu not to disrupt the process of governance and subject himself to the law at all times.

He added: “Shaibu, just like any private citizen, can take a tour around the exceptional projects of Governor Godwin Obaseki. We warn, however, that both Philip Shaibu and the security agencies should not carry out actions that violate the laws and the constitution.

“Shaibu should be patient and wait for the Appeal Court to hear his matter; he needs to learn to subject himself to the authority of the law. The government urged the good people of Edo State to go about their lawful business, rest assured that the government will always ensure the protection of lives and property in line with extant laws in the state.”

With Obaseki expected to leave for vacation soon and Omobayo not enjoying the backing of the law, there is a strong feeling that Shaibu might be the one to hand over to Okpehbolo on November 12.