The claim that Philip Shuaibu, the deputy governor of Edo State, intends to leave the People’s Democratic Party and join the All Progressives Congress has been denied.
His principal press secretary, Musa Ebomhiana, described the claim as the work of troublemakers seeking to widen the rift between the deputy governor and his boss, Governor Godwin Obaseki, in a statement on Thursday.
Shaibu’s alleged intention to replace Obaseki as governor has caused a rift between Obaseki and Shaibu.
In addition, Shaibu requested a court order to stop Obaseki’s alleged plot to have the state House of Assembly impeach him.
On Monday, when speaking about the dispute between him and his deputy, Obaseki said that Shaibu’s case against him lacked validity and that there had been no attempt to impeach him.
Obaseki further stated that Shaibu had made plans to defect from the PDP to the APC in order to advance his gubernatorial ambitions.
Shaibu’s CPS, however, claimed in a statement on Thursday that the defection accusation was false and that it was the work of people who were “hack writers and mischief makers bent on destabilizing our dear Edo State.”
“They will stop at nothing to widen the gulf between Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Comrade Philip Shaibu.
“They have generated more lies from the pit of hell, saying that Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu has perfected plans to rejoin the All Progressives Congress next week. There is no iota of truth in this.
“To further put a lie to this, the spin doctors claimed that the APC National Working Committee is set to receive him in Abuja. The question here for the discerning minds is: is it the NWC of a party that receives a defector into the party?
“Shaibu has never minced words, vowing to sink and swim with his principal, Governor Godwin Obaseki. This, he has said severally at public fora.
“In view of this, I plead with these characters bent on driving a wedge between Shaibu and his boss, to put the Edo project and the people far above their own selfish interest,” Ebomhiana said.
