…walks out on Governor Obaseki
Kashetu Momoh is a professional and an indigene of Edo State.
If reports making the rounds is anything to go by, then the Edo State Deputy Governor, Comrade Phillip Shaibu and his boss, Godwin Obaseki may have been threading a path of war, following what has been described as Obaseki’s unseriousness towards the September 19 Gubernatorial election.
According to information at our disposal, Comrade Shaibu has threatened the Governor that he would back out of the forthcoming race, following Obaseki’s failure to release funds for the campaign.
Comrade Philip Shaibu was said to have engaged in a war of words with his boss, Godwin Obaseki during a leadership meeting on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, Charles Idahosa, Domingo Obende and members of the six campaign committees put up by the Obaseki/Shaibu Gubernatorial Committee.
It was gathered that trouble started when Governor Obaseki commenced the meeting by saying “all hands must be on deck for them to be able to defeat the APC”.
But Shaibu angrily raised his hands to speak and was said to have told the governor that he (Obaseki) is not serious about winning the coming election.
He reminded the Governor that different committees were set up in the past two weeks but the governor has refused to fund them. Citing that the main opposition party, All Progressive Congress has been busy with campaigns, while PDP is lackadaisical about its campaign.
More reports revealed that tension heightened when Shaibu accused the Governor of luring him into fighting his god-father, Adams Oshiomhole. Despite this, he said Obaseki has been showing no commitment or seriousness to the forthcoming election.
“We have been sitting here doing nothing while Oshiomhole is all over the town, we are losing members every day and all we do is setting up committees every day without funding. I will not take this nonsense and you pushed me into fighting a man that made me what I am today yet all we see every day is committees with no funding”, he lamented.
“Mr Governor, I see you don’t understand what this election is all about. You are not serious about it. Do you think it is the little boys carrying laptops here that will win this election? If you don’t want to fund the election then I have no business being here. I will back out” Shaibu declared.
Attempts by the SSG, Ogie to stop Shaibu, further infuriated the Deputy Governor, who told Ogie to shut his mouth and sit down. However, Comrade Shaibu was backed by Charles Idahosa, who expressed his fears that Oshiomhole will send all of them to jail if they lose the election.
He further urged the Governor to release funds for the Guber-campaign.
Obaseki, who a source said looked visibly confused at that moment, requested for the budget of each of the six campaign committees.
This request angered Shaibu who thundered that he (Obaseki) was still asking for the budget, when APC had been campaigning day and night. He warned the governor that if nothing serious is happening he will walk back to his first part, APC which he said he left in pain.
The Deputy governor was said to have walked out of the meeting after describing his boss as unserious.
Kashetu Momoh is a professional and an indigene of Edo State.
