New Drama In Edo As Shaibu Denies Impeachment Notice, Speaker Says Move Is Beyond Him

The office of the Edo State deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, has denied that an impeachment notice was served on the Deputy Governor.

Recall that last Wednesday, the House of Assembly commenced impeachment proceedings against Shaibu, accusing him of perjury and leakage of government’s secrets.

The Assembly on Monday directed that the impeachment notice be published in national dailies (by substitution) following the difficulty to serve the deputy governor the letter in person.

However, in a letter dated March 12 to the House of Assembly on the issue, the personal assistant to the deputy governor, Charles Olubayo, corrected the Speaker, Blessing Agbebaku, for saying that the deputy governor refused to acknowledge the impeachment notice.

The letter disclosed, “The Office of the Deputy Governor, Edo State, wishes to draw your attention to the inaccuracies and misleading information that emanated from the plenary session of Monday, March 11, 2024, wherein Mr. Speaker directed that the impeachment notice be served on the Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, through newspaper publications, The Nigeria Observer and other national dailies, ‘sequel to the refusal of the Deputy Governor to acknowledge the impeachment notice.”

“Mr. Speaker was quoted to have also stated at the said plenary that ‘the action became necessary because the Deputy Governor refused to acknowledge an earlier impeachment notice sent to him through the Clerk of the House.”

The letter stated further, “We wish to state categorically that no impeachment notice was ever served on the deputy governor, let alone that he refused to acknowledge it.

“The deputy governor has been travelling out of Benin to Abuja since March 3, 2024, and has not returned to Benin since that date.

“The Clerk never saw the deputy governor whether in the office, at home or anywhere for that matter since the said date; hence, I was surprised that the House resolved to publish the impeachment notice in the Observer and other national dailies because ‘the Deputy Governor refused to acknowledge the earlier impeachment notice sent to him through the Clerk of the House.”

“One therefore wonders where the Clerk or his appointee served him the impeachment notice, but he refused to acknowledge it. Neither the Clerk nor any person sent impeachment notice to the deputy governor, which he refused to acknowledge.

“It is, therefore, our prayer that Mr. Speaker corrects the impression created in the public as the outcome of Monday’s plenary to avoid misrepresentation in this all-important matter,” the letter ended.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of Edo House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku, has said the decision to serve an impeachment notice on the Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, was a unanimous decision reached by 21 of 24 members.

Agbebaku made this known when he received members of the Catholic Men Organization of Nigeria, Benin Province, in his office in Benin on Tuesday.

The group, led by Mr Steven Apologun, said they were in the assembly to intervene in the impeachment move the house was making against the deputy governor.

The speaker thanked the members of the organisation for the peace move but stressed that the decision was beyond him.

Agbebaku noted that the decision reached by the house to serve the impeachment rested on all 24 members out of which 21 signed the petition.

“I am the head in this assembly, made up of 24 members. However, any decision taken is what I follow.

“21 out of 24 signed and as a servant of the other 23 members, I do not have much to say,” he said.

According to him, if there is ever going to be any resolution of the issue, it will be determined by the majority of the members of the house and not him alone.

Earlier, Apologun, the Provisional President of the group, appealed for caution so that the legislature would not be perceived as being an instrument of political witch-hunt against the deputy governor.

He added that the church was seeking an amicable resolution to the disagreement between the deputy governor and Governor Godwin Obaseki in the interest of peace. (NAN)

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