Dr Don-Pedro Obaseki, an indigene of Edo state and former presidential consultant on Media to the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has said that in order to maintain equity and fairness in Edo State, Phillip Shaibu, the deputy governor and fellow PDP member, should not run for the 2024 Edo state gubernatorial election.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Obaseki gave his opinion on the recent rift between Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Phillip Shaibu, as Shaibu is making moves to succeed Obaseki in the 2024 guber election in Edo State, saying that he feels “a little uncomfortable” over the fact that Shaibu wants to run for the post of governor. He also described Shaibu’s actions of asking for an interim injunction from the courts as “presumptive, speculative, and maybe premature.”
Obaseki went on to say, “If there is going to be equity and fairness, I don’t think Phillip should be running, but ambition is a personal thing.” He then explained this saying that the former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomole, is the official brother of Shaibu, and as such, Shaibu’s ambition to be governor will eventually cause an underrepresentation for other local governments in Edo state.
When he was asked what the PDP was doing in order to maintain the relationship and bring about reconciliation between the leaders of the state, Obaseki said, “The PDP has been trying in the last few months, particularly as a fallout of our loss to the Obidient movement within the state, we need to be frank within ourselves, to try to put all parties together again. And this one has thrown a spanner in that reconciliation wheel.
“I just hope that both of them, particularly the deputy governor because we have to be frank. The deputy governor was the one who went to the public with a blazing can, you know, going to court, asking for an interim injunction, now they want to ask for an interlocutory injunction to stop his purported impeachment, which is something unknown to law.
“So, I feel that the two of them, they have had many baths in the shower together once upon a time. They can find a way, so as not to continue to make Edo State a laughing stock or a continuous unending melodrama in the Nigerian political state.”
He however, warned against future controversies in the PDP as he said, “The only thing that I know that will be a problem going forward is if they don’t sheath the sword now, some persons, which Phillip might be, will be the collateral victims of this because the government is not going to run again, cause Phillip wants to run and the forces within the state are against his running. That is the statement of fact.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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