Shaibu Declares Interest in Edo Guber, Says Ambition Unstoppable

•Insists Obaseki has no right to tell him to step down 

•Another aspirant unveils agenda

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City and Funmi Ogundare in Lagos

Despite the seeming frustrations, the Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, yesterday, formally declared his intention to contest the 2024 governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democracy Party (PDP), saying no body could stop my ambition.

Shuaibu, who shed more light on his aspiration while speaking on Newsnight  on ARISE Television, also said  his boss, Governor Godwin Obaseki, had no right to tell him to step down from his constitutional rights, adding that he was well-equipped to govern the state politically.

Also, ahead of PDP governorship primary slated for September, 2024, another hopeful, Mr. Anselm Ojezua, has promised to reintroduce bursary in the education system, among his agenda for the state.

However, Shaibu, at his declaration, alluded to his political travails in the last couple of months, declaring that he remained unbowed even as he forged ahead against the unfavourable disposition of his principal, Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Addressing his supporters at the Bishop Kelly Pastoral Central, the new venue he secured, Shaibu said despite his present predicament, his antecedents in the struggle for democracy were part of the propelling factors for him to move on to actualize his ambition.

Describing himself as “100 per cent Home Boy”, an allusion to the clamour that the next governor of the state must be someone, who knows the state very well, and not someone imported, a veiled reference to the touted candidate of Governor Obaseki, Asue Igbodalo, Shaibu hinged his campaign on five pillars that included infrastructure development, economic diversification, Education, Sports.

Others were skills development and job creation, healthcare, social welfare system, agriculture, rural development, poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability, and transparent governance.

He said while working closely with Obaseki in the past seven years, a solid foundation for progress had been laid in the state.

Whilst on Arise News, Shaibu said his bid to contest for the seat was a generational fight and that the governor had the right to support whoever he  deemed fit for the position

According to him, the people need fast and rapid development and that by November 1, 2024, when he would be sworn in, he would be announcing his commissioners and other officials.

“I  would hit the ground running as soon as I and my commissioners are inaugurated,” he said.

Dwelling on whether he had the governor’s backing, he said, “I will say yes and no. Yes , because of my relationship with him having worked with him in the last seven  years and because he likes someone who  is hardworking, accountable and not corrupt.

“He has commended me for having these qualities and he has said to me that I am not like the conventional politician and he has also told me that I am the kind of deputy that any governor can have . So, if he has said that, it definitely means that he will be happy if I succeed him.”

Shaibu said once he wins the primaries, he would be able to build on what they have collectively achieved as a state, adding that the governor was aware that he has the blueprint of the 30 years master plan .

On how he planned to tackle the problem of zoning, Shaibu stated that Edo North is the only senatorial district that had never won a PDP ticket since 1999.

Asked why he went back to what led to the rift between him and his principal, he said, “Ambition is personal and loyalty is given. I am 100 per cent loyal to my governor and that is why I have been intimidated and harrassed. I have relocated from the Government House and I didn’t go to court to check the illegality of that action. That is loyalty.

“When I wanted to do my  declaration today, a top office holder in government called the hotel that they will revoke their license. My wife’s staff at the filling station were also threatened. Why doing that?”

Declaring that he could not be intimidated as he was among those that fought for democracy in Nigeria, he added: “We want people to be able to fight for the destiny of the country,” he stated.

On his part, Ojezua, a former Commissioner for  Information and Orientation in Edo, made the promise when he appeared on Correspondents Forum of  the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Benin City.

He also said if voted into power, he would tackle insecurity headlong to ensure farmers, who abandoned their farms because of the activities of herdsmen could go back to their farms to ensure adequate food supply both for domestic and industrial production.

Ojezua further stated that he would also look into the area of healthcare delivery, adding that the cost of access to health was unbelievably high even for those who considered ourselves privileged.