Ahead of the Edo State governorship election on September 21, the Peoples Democratic Party’s factional candidate, Mr. Philip Shaibu, has pledged to continue his preparations even if it means being impeached by the state House of Assembly.
Shaibu, the state’s deputy governor, made the announcement during a press conference in Abuja on Saturday.
On Thursday, Dauda Lawal, the returning officer in the PDP governorship primary and Governor of Zamfara State, declared Asue Ighodalo the winner of the delegate election with 577 votes.
However, in the parallel primaries held at the Deputy Governor’s Benin house, the returning officer, Bartholomew Moses, pronounced Shaibu the winner, claiming he won “with more than 300 votes.”
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Shaibu presented himself as the genuine candidate, claiming that the primary that produced Ighodalo was nothing more than a social gathering attended by “people who wore asoebi from all over the place.”
Shaibu, who defected from the All Progressives Congress to the PDP alongside Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki in 2020, claims the governor has subjected his office to terrible treatment but insists he is the guy to win the election for the PDP.
He said, “Even as we speak, my team has been calling me, ‘Look at what these people are doing. They are saying they are going to impeach you and that you have gotten too far.’ They are threatening to impeach me.
“And I said, well, if fighting for my rights and all of us collectively triggers my impeachment, so be it.”
Shaibu, who described Ighodalo as “my far elder brother,” however, urged the PDP to know that the lawyer-turned-politician does not have what it takes to win the poll.
“If the party wants to win the election, they will not go for Ighodalo. If the party wants to win the election, the people have spoken, and they have spoken very loudly and clearly.
“If people can stand bullets to say this is who we want, then the party should follow that direction,” he added.
The deputy governor also said that he has appointed Pastor Kenneth Asekomhe, former APC Deputy Chairman, Edo State Chapter, to chair a committee tasked with reaching out to Ighodalo’s camp in order to establish a common front for the PDP in the race.
“He is the chairman of the committee that I have set up to reach out to the Ighodalo group for us to have a discussion to see how we will go because it is only him that is not on board,” he further said.
Shaibu further stated that he is working with the National Vice Chairman (South-South), Mr. Dan Orbih.
“The leader of the legacy coalition is Dan Orbih. We are working together, and that is why it is important that Asue (Ighodalo) join the legacy coalition because the coalition is made up of those that were in the APC but moved to the PDP to meet those that were already in the PDP.
“Those that were in the PDP that we met are the legacy. The coalition now is that we joined the old PDP, moving together because we don’t want to hear new and old PDP, and that is why we call it a legacy coalition,” Shaibu stated.
Shaibu confirmed that the Independent National Electoral Commission observed the primary election that produced him, but did not go into detail.
“INEC and the party were there, but I will not disclose a lot. If we don’t go to court, fine. But if we do go to court, all this information will be unveiled,” he threatened.
