It is we who made Obaseki governor — he didn’t have money to contest in 2016, Shaibu says

Philip Shaibu, the reinstated deputy governor of Edo, says he was asked to be Godwin Obaseki’s running mate in 2016 to bring political value to the ticket.

Speaking on Friday when he featured on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’, Shaibu said Obaseki, the Edo governor, lacked both political experience and financial resources to contest the election.

Both politicians have been embroiled in a rift stemming from their conflicting views on the state’s gubernatorial contest.

“We made Obaseki governor. Obaseki was not a politician, and Obaseki was not financially strong enough to contest the election. Oshiomhole brought him, and when Oshiomhole brought him, some of us argued that it could not be him,” Shaibu said.

“It took Oshiomhole three months to convince some of our supporters and me to support Obaseki. And when we decided because of Oshiomhole, because of our respect for him, to support him (Obaseki), he did not bring money. We brought our resources and our friends to bring money and we brought our political capital to make him governor.

“He is not the one that made me; I made him. I was asked to be his deputy to add political value because he was not a politician.”

The deputy governor said Obaseki has shown Nigerians that he is lawless.

He was reacting to the accusations of impersonation that had been levelled against him by the state government.

In a video posted on his X handle on August 12, Shaibu formally announced his resumption as deputy governor.

Shortly afterwards, the Edo government warned organisations to stop interacting with Shaibu.

Chris Nehikhare, commissioner for communication and orientation, said Shaibu was “impersonating” Omobayo Godwins as deputy governor of the state.

Nehikhare said the state government has filed an appeal against the order reinstating Shaibu.

The commissioner said every correspondence from Shaibu should be “disregarded and considered as forgery”.

Reacting to the development, Shaibu accused Obaseki of “disregarding a valid court judgment”.

“The holder of the office of the governor in Edo state today is lawless, Godwin Obaseki is lawless. If he is not lawless, he will not say Philip Shaibu is impersonating because there is a valid court judgment that he has been served,” he said.

“That is not the only court judgement he is not obeying.”

‘PDP CANDIDATE CAN’T SPEAK HIS LANGUAGE’

Shaibu said Asue Ighodalo, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo, has not been accepted by the people.

He alleged that the PDP candidate faces opposition from his own people due to his inability to communicate in their local dialect.

He said Ighodalo, handpicked by Obaseki, would be rejected by voters.

“I can tell you that the people don’t want Asue Ighodalo; even his own people in ‘Ewohimi’ don’t want him because he can’t speak their language,” he said.

Shaibu said Obaseki won the 2020 election out of sympathy, adding that the electorate perceived that the governor was being oppressed at the time.