The immediate past deputy governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has declared support for the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Monday Okpebholo, ahead of the September 21 governorship election in the state.

Shaibu made this known while speaking at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Benin, the Edo State capital, on Sunday, June 16, 2024.

The former deputy governor, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), vied for the governorship election but lost to the former Chairman of Sterling Bank Plc, Asue Ighodalo.

He said: “I will support a homeboy. I came into politics to contest as the governor of Edo State because I need the government to return to homeboys – people who understand our plight, people who understand what the people are feeling.

“Even the United Nations talks about the need for assessment. We don’t want outsiders, we have experimented with outsiders and it’s not working. So, this time around, we want homeboy.

“Today, I came in as a homeboy. We have only two homeboys in the major political parties in Edo State. One is in labour, and one is in APC, and I choose to follow another homeboy in the APC.

Shaibu: Nobody can stop me from contesting Edo guber election

“The man they are parading in the PDP is an outsider, and we have also agreed that no more godfatherism in Edo. So, the man the PDP is trying to portray in Edo now is the godson of Obaseki and there is no way godsons will now be governor of Edo.”

Shaibu further stated that Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, said everyone was free to choose who to support in any election, saying that was the reason he has come out publicly to back Okpebholo ahead of the forthcoming governorship election despite his PDP membership.

He added: “The governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, says that everybody has the right to support whoever he wants to support, but he forgot also that he doesn’t have the right to stop anybody from whom he wants to support.

“But I take one part from what he said, we all have the right to support whom we want to support, so it’s my right to decide who I want to support.”

The Star recalls that Shaibu, after the gubernatorial primaries of the PDP, said the party would not win the governorship election in the state if he was not recognised as the candidate of the party.

Shaibu was impeached by the Edo State House of Assembly on April 8, 2024.

His impeachment followed the adoption of the report of a seven-man committee set up to investigate allegations of misconduct against him.

Speaking at the plenary, the Majority Leader of the House, Charity Aiguobarueghian, said the report of the seven-man panel presented to the lawmakers found Shaibu culpable of disclosing government secrets.

The Star