Edo Dep Gov locked out of office as rift with Obaseki deepens

Comrade Philip Shaibu, Deputy Governor of  Edo State, has been locked out of his office at the Government House, Benin, the state capital.

Shaibu and Governor Godwin Obaseki have been having a running battle over next year’s succession.

The two-term tenure of Obaseki will end in 2024 and Shaibu, who has been his deputy since 2016, is inching to succeed him, whereas Obaseki has his mind on someone else.

As the crisis raged on, Shaibu accused Obaseki of plotting his impeachment, heading for the court to block such move.

He later withdrew the suit following the intervention of some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains and stakeholders in the state.

But the rift continued as the office of the deputy governor was moved to an uncompleted building outside Government House.

His media team was also disbanded after an altercation between the Deputy Governor and some aides of Obaseki.

On Monday, Shaibu arrived at the Government House but met the gate leading to his office under lock and key.

Speaking on the development on Monday, the deputy governor said he was not ordered to move out of his office at the Government House, stressing that only civil servants were directed to relocate.

“Up till now, I don’t have any official communication that I should relocate. The only people that have official communication are my civil servants. The civil servants have official communication but I don’t.

“As I am speaking to you now, I am standing by the gate,” Shaibu said while on a phone call to a yet-to-be-identified person.”

Shaibu and his aides waited on the road for about an hour and left after frantic calls trying to reach the Governor but to no avail.

Shaibu was said to have had some discussions with the state Commissioner of Police and the State Director of Department of State  Services (DSS), alerting them of the situation.

A source close to the deputy governor said Shaibu also met with the government house camp commandant, SP Ibrahim Babatunde, to get explanation on why he was locked out of his office

SP Babatunde reportedly told him that it was a directive from above and that the Chief Security Officer of government house, Williams Wabba, will be in a better position to explain the incident.

The deputy governor was said to have called Wabba who promised to come but did not do so for several hours, forcing the deputy governor to leave.

Obaseki’s aide, who spoke off the record, said Shaibu was not locked out of office, as his office was no longer in the government house.