Obaseki’s Friends, Foes Digest Shaibu’s ‘War’ Speech

About two months after Comrade Philip Shaibu vowed not to antagonize Governor Godwin Obaseki pledging his loyalty to ‘his senior brother’, the Edo Deputy Governor, on Sunday unfolded himself in what some political stakeholders including both friends and foes of the governor have declared as a war speech.

Shaibu, undoubtedly one of the most connected political actors in the state in declaring his bid to succeed his ‘boss’ made some utterances which both friends and foes of Obaseki say amount to a war speech

Obaseki As a failed Experiment

Among the assertions of Shaibu were his claim that  “the state could not afford to experiment again with someone who does not understand the politics of the state or the needs of the people.

“Edo people need practical governance and you cannot experiment again with somebody that do not understand the politics of a good state and the needs of the people.”

In saying that the state cannot afford to experiment again he has fed insinuations that his ‘boss’ who was seen and is still seen as an outsider was an experiment.

The assertion can also be seen as a jibe at Obaseki’s alleged favoured aspirant, Asue Ighodalo who is seen as an outsider, or rather, a Lagos man like Obaseki.

That assertion of an outsider was further driven home when Shaibu said:

“You cannot know the need of the people when you don’t live with them.  So for me, competence and experience should be the watchword as we go into election in 2024.

“Who is competent? Who is more experienced? Who will hit the ground running from day one?

“Are we going to experiment with a new person again? And the person will spend the first four years learning on the job and he will spend another four years trying to embezzle, set up his businesses in the name of consolidating on the gains of the first term.

Against the grain of assertions and mutterings that Obaseki is more of an MOU governor regularly signing MOUs and technical agreements and organizing workshops with consultants mostly from Lagos, Shaibu said:

“You see, the problem, what we have in the system is that we have too many seminars, too many workshops, too many programs and you don’t have time to implement their outcomes.”

Zoning

Shaibu also took aspersion on the call for zoning of the governorship to Central, a move that has quietly been supported by Obaseki in his war speech.

There was not and had never been any convention in the state, either through political or traditional conferences where such position was zoned.

Whoever talks about equity, must come with clean hands. Whereas other senatorial districts have had more than one turn in the governorship position in the state, Edo North had only one turn.

We have had four governors from South, two from Central and only one from North.

Send Us A Press Statement Advertise With Us Contact Us

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG