Liborous Oshoma: Shaibu Legally Edo Deputy Governor But High Level Politics Preventing Him From Functioning

Lawyer and Human Rights activist Libourous Oshoma has said that the current political and legal crisis in Edo State is all a game of “high level politics.”

Oshoma made this comment during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday while reviewing the recent events that have played out in Edo state where an attack was carried out by vigilantes who shot at the convoy of Phillip Shaibu following his reinstatement as the Deputy Governor of Edo state as well as the commotion around a stay of execution.

He said, “These politicians, it’s an ego thing for them. What I see playing out here is high level politics, high wire politics. Legally speaking today, Shaibu is the deputy governor, but can he function from his house? The answer is no. We know he can’t. Even while he was there before he was impeached, we know how he was even sent packing outside of the government house. We also concluded last time that we need a clear cut definition for functions for the office of the deputy governor and not to act as an appendage to the governor. 

“What I see playing out here is high wired politics and the government at the centre is All Progressives Congress (APC), the one at the state is People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and how well they are able to match each other. Now, they no longer resort to wit or knowledge, it’s about violence because the election is around the corner.”

He added, “There is no divorce or divide between these political parties. They are vehicles for contesting for election. It’s all the same set of people. People that are today in APC were once those that formed the PDP that said PDP is home and that they will never leave and they left, only for them to go back later to say they are returning home.”

Speaking on the role of the people of Edo state in the ongoing political crisis, he said that some Edo people are enablers of the wrong actions of politicians because they allow themselves to be used as pawns.

“Until we demonetise politics in Nigeria, we will continue to have this scenario where people will kill you to serve you. When you ask, ‘where are the Edo people in all of this?’ Is it not some Edo persons that are being used to fire shots? Is it not supporters on one end and supporters on the other end that are fighting each other? These people attend weddings and ceremonies of their relatives and their children and they know where they meet. But the Edo people are the ones that they are using as foot soldiers, as pawns.

“When these people bandy these things, it is not because they want the average Edo person to benefit. Go to Edo state, the roads are bad. It’s not about Edo people. And the Edo people, to them, ‘how do we collect from these people?How do we get our own?’ Those that can get SSA, it is okay for them. They all promise industries, at the end of the day, nothing is built. The narrative, no matter how you try to change the narrative to engage the ordinary people, they will still wait on that day to be paid.”

Melissa Enoch

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