Godwin Obaseki, the governor of Edo State, has said that his assistant, Philip Shaibu, is not loyal and is planning a coup to take over the state.
Obaseki stated that Shuaib wants to take over the state’s administration prior to the 2024 election for governor of Edo in a video that AIT shared on X, which was formerly Twitter.
He said, “[Shaibu] went to Abuja and bragged that he has connections there, that he knows people in the national assembly, that they are all with the president now, and that they will take care of him if he doesn’t get the PDP ticket. He knows what to do.”
“I didn’t say anything, but I said that I thought we were together. But what surprised me, and I’ve never told anyone this before, was that after I called the House of Assembly to order, we were going to vote for officers.
“He was in Abuja, and that day he came back. I am in charge of making sure this state is safe. I find out everything I need to know. But it’s my job to keep quiet and make good use of the knowledge.
“My deputy called the leader of the APC and told him that he has five members who will vote for him in the next day’s elections, especially for Speaker of the House of Assembly.” He also said that he would like the seven members of the APC to work with the five members of the PDP to choose the next speaker.
Obaseki also said that Shaibu wouldn’t work with him.
“As far as I’m concerned, that wasn’t in our best interests as a group.
“Why would the vice governor want a different person for Speaker than what the governor wants? Are we all on the same page?
“That’s when I knew something was wrong. That the deputy governor wants to take over so badly that he would do anything, even stage a coup, to get rid of his boss.
“How can you say that you are loyal and that you will do such a thing?”
Remember that Shaibu took Obaseki to a federal high court in Abuja because he wanted to get rid of him?
He said that the governor was stopping him from doing what the law said he had to do.
In reaction, Obaseki said that there are no plans to fire his deputy and that Shaibu wants to join the APC, which is the party in power.