Obaseki vs Shaibu: Edo Assembly Speaker Speaks On House Impeaching Deputy Governor

The political atmosphere in Edo State is tense following the bickering between the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, and his Deputy, Philip Shaibu with both camps trying to outsmart each other.

However, there is anxiety that the Governor may through the State House of Assembly members push for Shaibu’s impeachment today.

This is despite the order by the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court directive of maintaining “status quo ante bellum” pending the determination of the suit filed by Shaibu to stop the alleged plot to remove him.

Speaking on the saga, the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr. Blessing Agbebaku, said the lawmakers have no plan to impeach the Deputy Governor, noting that the matter is still in court.

He urged members of the public to ignore such reports.

He told Vanguard on phone: “I don’t want to talk about it because the case is in court but there is no plan like that. There is no iota of truth about this issue of impeachment and the governor has no such plans because if there is anything like that, won’t I know? People are just carrying rumours.”

A principal officer of the state assembly was however quoted to have said the lawmakers are not happy with Shaibu’s decision to go to court. He added that the Deputy Governor has committed an impeachable offense by breaching the oath of secrecy he swore and that is an impeachable offence but the legislators are not taking any action against him yet.

“The deputy governor going to court is, on its own, impeachable”, the principal officer said.

Continuing, he said “When you see the contents of the court documents, they are all speculative and breaches of the oath of secrecy he swore to when he was inaugurated.

“There is no plan like that at all. It was shocking to us when we got the court papers. Going through the papers, the content is enough to even commence impeachment but there is nothing like that” he added.

Shaibu To Resume Today

The aides of the deputy governor have denied caims that their principal has fled Edo State. They explained that Shaibu has been in the United States of America, USA, to attend the annual Afemai World Congress, AWC, and he is expected back in Nigeria on Sunday and “we are expecting him to resume today (Monday).

“So we don’t know what is going to happen when he resumes based on the fact that we have heard that they are going to lock his office,” one of them said.