I’ve accepted your apology, Obaseki tells deputy

The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, says he has accepted the public apology tendered by his deputy, Philip Shaibu.

Obaseki, however, said Shaibu’s alleged unwarranted provocation caused him severe personal discomfort.

He however said he has accepted the public apology made by Shaibu and that as a person of faith, he was under obligation to accept the apology.

Shaibu and Obaseki fell out as a result of Shaibu’s ambition to contest the 2024 governorship election and succeed his principal.

The rift resulted in Obaseki relocating the deputy governor’s office out of the government house, disband his media crew and also removed him as the supervisory head of the revenue generation agencies in the state.

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Shaibu had, however, begged Obaseki last week to forgive him if he had offended him unknowingly.

Obaseki in a letter titled, “Re: Public Apology by Shaibu,” said he hoped that the public apology expressed by his deputy was genuine.

The letter read in part, “I have noted the public apology made by the deputy governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu. This apology followed an aberrant behaviour that contradicts what the people of Edo State stand for.

“To name a few, the deputy governor needlessly filed unfounded petitions in the Nigerian courts restraining me, the State House of Assembly and Security agencies from a non-existent impeachment process, followed by repeated breaches of protocol; unwarranted and unprovoked attacks in the media on my person and the State Government.”

Obaseki said the development provided an impression of crises that had been precarious and distasteful to Edo people in the state and across the world.

He said though these unwarranted provocations caused him severe personal discomfort, “but, as a person of faith, I am under obligation to accept this apology because as they say, to err is human, to forgive is divine.”

“In good faith, I trust that the public apology as expressed by the Deputy Governor is genuine and followed by contrite steps to improve his conflict resolution skills. I also enjoin the Deputy Governor to guide his proxies to act in accordance with his piety.

“It is my sincere hope and that of my other colleagues in government and all well-meaning Edo people that these rhetorics will be put to an end forthwith to enable this administration finish strong and deliver the dividends of democracy to the greatest number of Edo people over this final twelve months,” Obaseki added.