Edo Election: Drama As Shaibu Shuns PDP, To Work With Oshiomhole’s Camp For APC To Win

Former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Rt Hon Philip Shaibu, announced on Sunday his decision to support the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Sen Monday Okpebholo, also known as Akpakomiza, over the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Olumide Akpata.

Shaibu cited Okpebholo’s familiarity with local issues as the key reason for his endorsement. Former Governor Adams Oshiomhole is the leader of APC in Edo State who is driving the party’s campaign. Backing APC means that Shaibu would be working with the camp led by Oshiomhole.

Speaking to journalists during the Fathers’ Day celebration at St Paul Catholic Church in Benin City, Shaibu criticized the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asue Ighodalo, as a product of “godfatherism,” a practice he claims has been eradicated in the state’s politics. He recalled the efforts of former governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and his own involvement in the 2020 election to eliminate such influence, noting that he has learned new political strategies from Governor Obaseki.

Shaibu said, “I am a very good learner and learning is what is most important in our lives, We must continue to learn till we die, the governor of Edo State. Mr Godwin Obaseki says everybody has the right to support whoever he wants to support but he also forgot that he doesn’t have the right to stop anybody from supporting whoever he wants to support so it is my right to also decide who I want to support.

“I will support a homeboy, I came in to contest to be governor of Edo State because I needed governance to return to a homeboy, somebody that understands our plight, somebody that understands what the people are feeling, even the United Nations talks about needs assessment, we don’t want an outsider, we have experimented with an outsider and it is not working, so this time, we want a homeboy, I came into the contest as a homeboy but today, we have only two home boys in the major political parties; one is in the Labour Party LP) and one is in the All Progressives Congress (APC), and I chose to follow the home boy in the APC, the man they are parading in the PDP is an outsider and we have also agreed that no more godfatherism in Edo and the man PDP is parading, is the godson of Obaseki and there is no way a godson can be governor of Edo State again.”