Adebayo Adenrele
The Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has blamed Governor Godwin Obaseki over the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asue Ighodalo, in the just-concluded gubernatorial election in the state.
Shaibu, who had previously been impeached and reinstated as Deputy Governor of Edo State, stated while appearing on Arise Tv interview said that Obaseki’s defeat was due to his alienation of key political allies who had initially supported his rise to power.
According to him, Obaseki’s refusal to collaborate with important allies and his autocratic style created widespread discontent among his supporters.
Shaibu, who recently defected back to the APC, added that the governor’s attitude had led to the defection of over 600 key PDP leaders to the APC.
His words, “We made Obaseki governor. I continue to insist because Obaseki was never a politician. Obaseki never voted, just like Asue in Edo State. But when Oshiomole convinced us why we should support him, we all came together to back him. In his second term, you can see the role we played in making him the governor of Edo State.
“Today, the game-changer is that all of us whom God put together to assist Obaseki in becoming governor during his first and second terms. Obaseki has offended all of us and pushed us to the extent that we were forced out of the PDP.
“The game-changer was his refusal to share his program with us, thinking he could be an autocrat, a dictator, and enforce his will. He feels he now has the money which he didn’t have in 2016 to use to buy his way through.
“There were 10 of us who contested in the PDP primaries, and to 9 of us, he said to go to hell to leaders who went around canvassing for him, he also said to go to hell. It started with Oshiomole.
“The last time I counted, about 618 of us, key leaders, left the PDP for the APC. And the interesting thing is, we who left APC to PDP, when we were returning, we left with members of PDP to the extent that the ward leaders and executives were all resigning”.