Philip Shaibu, the Edo State deputy governor, has been impeached by the state’s House of Assembly.
Shaibu was impeached during the house’s plenary session on Monday in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
The deputy governor’s impeachment followed the adoption of the report of a seven-man committee set up by the chief judge of Edo State, Justice Daniel Okungbowa to investigate allegations of misconduct against the deputy governor.
Recall that the Edo House of Assembly last week initiated the impeachment proceedings against the deputy governor. Twenty-one of the 24 lawmakers signed a petition to that effect.
The deputy governor was accused 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 Shaibu 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.
The Majority Leader of the Edo House of Assembly Charity Aiguobarueghan then moved a motion that Justice Okungbowa be directed to set up a committee to probe the petition against Shaibu.
The impeachment of the deputy governor is a culmination of the political impasse between him and his principal Godwin Obaseki.
