Philip Shaibu Out As Edo Deputy Governor

• It’s game over for Philip Shaibu as Edo deputy governor.

• The deputy governor had been in a running battle with his principal, the state governor.

• The impasse reached a head recently when the state’s Chief Judge constituted a committee to investigate allegations of misconduct against Shaibu.

Eko Hot Blog reports that the Edo State House of Assembly has impeached the state’s deputy governor Philip Shaibu.

He was impeached on Monday morning during the house’s plenary session in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

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The assembly impeached Shaibu after adopting the report of a seven-man committee set up to investigate allegations of misconduct against the deputy governor.

The move is a culmination of the political conflict between the deputy governor and his principal, Governor Godwin Obaseki.

The duo have been at loggerheads in recent months over Shaibu’s plans to contest the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary.

Obaseki had claimed that Shaibu was planning a “coup” to unseat him. The latter also accused his principal of trying to instigate the Edo State House of Assembly to impeach him.

Shaibu later contested the PDP governorship primary and declared himself a winner in a parallel election. However, businessman Asue Ighodalo was recognized as the party’s flagbearer for the exercise coming up later in the year.

Monday’s impeachment comes as a Federal High Court in Abuja was to resume sitting in the lawsuit filed by Shaibu to challenge the Edo State House of Assembly’s plan to impeach him.

Last week, the Edo House of Assembly started the impeachment proceedings against Shaibu, with 21 of the 24 lawmakers signing a petition to that effect.

They accused Shaibu of perjury and disclosure of the state government’s secrets.

During its plenary last Tuesday, the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly Blessing Agbebaku told the lawmakers that the seven-day ultimatum granted Shaibu to respond to the impeachment notice served on him had expired.

The speaker reminded the lawmakers that the impeachment notice was served on the ousted deputy governor on March 6, 2024. But due to what he described as the deputy governor’s alleged evasion of service, the Edo House of Assembly ordered a substituted service.

Agbebaku said the substituted service was published in the Nigerian Observer and the Vanguard Newspapers on March 12, 2024. He said March 19, 2024, made it seven days.

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The Majority Leader of the Edo House of Assembly Charity Aiguobaruegha, then moved a motion that Chief Judge Okungbowa be directed to set up a committee to probe the petition against Shaibu.

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