RIPPLES NIGERIA
The stage appears set for another rumpus in the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as actors in the party are set for a major faceoff over the likely return of the impeached Deputy Governor of the state, Philip Shaibu to the party.
Shaibu, a former member of the party, from where he was initially elected on a joint ticket with Governor Godwin Obaseki, was impeached on Monday by the Edo State House of Assembly, which accused him of leaking state secrets.
Before his eventual impeachment, Shaibu, a former close ally of Senator Adams Oshiomhole, a former governor of the state, was engaged in a war of attrition against Governor Obaseki over the his governorship ambition.
Though Obaseki tried as much as possible to avoid expressly coming out clean on the cause of his faceoff with his deputy, Shaibu used every opportunity to inform Nigerians that Obaseki was fighting him because of his ambition to become the next governor of the state.
While the infighting lasted, the state House of Assembly consistently denied plans to impeach the deputy governor despite Shaibu’s insistence that Obaseki and the lawmakers at the state Assembly were bent on impeaching him.
However, matters took a new turn after the conclusion of the contentious governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, which Shaibu laid claims to winning, as the state Assembly formally issued a notice of impeachment against him.
Though Shaibu made frantic efforts to stop the impeachment, the lawmakers went ahead and with conclusion the sitting of the probe panel put in place by the state Chief Judge, Shaibu’s fate was sealed as he was impeached on Monday.
The Impeachment, has however, set the stage for another round of bickering in the Edo State chapter of the APC, Shaibu’s former party, with dissenting voices speaking out against his alleged plan to return to the party.
The ball was set rolling by ward chairmen of the APC I. Etsako West Local Government Area of the state, the home LG of Shaibu, when they unequivocally declared their opposition to Shaibu’s return to the party, insisting that there is no vacancy for him in APC.
The 12 ward Chairmen, in a communique jointly issued by them on Tuesday, vowed to resist the erstwhile deputy governor’s re-admittance into the party.
“There is neither vacancy for him in his ward (Ward 11) nor Etsako West. He should rather concentrate on his membership of PDP or look elsewhere,” the chairmen said.
