The cold war between the Edo State governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Comrade Philip Shaibu, is getting messier by the day.
The first but deadly blow dealt to his deputy was when he removed him from being in charge of the local government revenue collection. Those on the side of Shaibu posited that the deputy grew the revenue from a meagre N3 million in one of the months to over N120 million.
Then it became conspicuously clear that things were no longer at ease for them, and of course, things had fallen apart for the due who once co-head the “Pepper them” gang.
Some political pundits who are conversant with the antecedents of the duo are of the view that the infighting between the duo is emanating from the body language of the deputy governor to contest in the forthcoming Edo State governorship election and which the governor is vehemently kicking against because of his vested interest in bringing in his own anointed candidate and that the governor has decided to deploy all his arsenals at his disposal to cripple and dislodge his deputy.
Again, it is in the public domain that Godwin Obaseki, during his re-election campaigns in 2020 which took around the 192 wards in Edo State, had made promises to Edo people and leaders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that he was going to ensure that power shifted to the Edo Central zone in 2024, for equity, fair play and justice.
One of the 2020 gubernatorial aspirants who later stepped down for Obaseki told this writer that he stepped down because the governor promised him that he would “hand over power to Edo central candidate in 2024”.
According to the aspirant, “Though the governor did not admit to handing over to me, he assured me that he was going to make sure that an Esan becomes the governor in 2024, and I was okay with that”, the aspirant, who is now a member of another political party, explained.
Obaseki’s opposition to the inordinate ambition of his 2-I-C could also be deduced from the fact that Shaibu is from the Etsako extraction in Edo north, where his predecessor, Oshiomhole, hails from, as many argued that even when and if power is shifting to Edo north, it should be the turn of other ethnic nationalities in the zone, like Owan and Akoko-Edo.
Smart as Shaibu seems to be, he has smelt the coffee from a thousand miles away, and he needed to act very fast to save himself from the impending colossal political embarrassment and losses.
And in other to salvage himself and his political career, which is now on the verge of total collapse, it was gathered that the embattled deputy governor, who some persons christened ‘Captain Philip], for fear of the unknown because he doesn’t know what the governor might do next and he doesn’t want to be caught up unaware, has allegedly gone to the Federal High Court, Abuja to seek a restraining order on the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, the Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly and the Chief of the state from impeaching him. We hear the prayer was not granted anyways.
Though the news of the restraining order is still very sketchy, citizens of the state have started raising concerns about why the deputy governor and the governor are no longer seen together in public functions as usual.
However, while some persons in the state are sympathetic to the deputy governor’s course, most people are not.
Those who are sympathetic to his course say that the deputy governor worked tirelessly to ensure that Obaseki became governor of the state when the odds were against him. At the same time, others see him as one who joined outsiders to humiliate his political godfather, who was also his kinsman.
They say those who pet their neighbour for pebbles should expect rock in return, adding that he got what he bargained for.
Interestingly, Mr Shaibu, who is being taunted to have betrayed his “father”, former governor and now Edo North senator Adam Oshiomhole was said to have made some inroads into his reconciliation efforts with the former National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, but met with stiff resistance from members of the Oshiomhole’s political family, where he held sway for many years before he decided to join forces with Gov Obaseki to fight and humiliate his benefactor from his position as the national chairman.
Going down memory lane, one could quickly recall that Hon. Shaibu was first a member of the Edo State House of Assembly, where he fought with Oshiomhole between 2007 and 2008 to reclaim the ‘mandate’ Sen. Osunbor who was removed from office by the appeal court on November 11, 2008.
The swearing-in of Adam Oshiomhole as the governor of Edo state on November 12 further boosted the influence of Philip Shaibu in state politics as he quickly took over the House of Assembly, making Rt. Hon. Bright Omokhodion, who was chairman House Committee on Sports, the speaker as he had betrayed his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to increase the number of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and Shaibu subsequently became the majority leader of the house. This position hitherto held by Rt. Hon Frank Okiye, between 2007 and 2009.
Oshiomhole later compensated Shaibu with a slot in the House of Representatives for his loyalty and deputy to Godwin Obaseki.
How Obaseki and his deputy have become sworn enemies in a few months to the end of their administration is what many still cannot fathom as things have fallen apart in quick succession. The centre can no longer hold for him.
In conclusion, Philip Shaibu, who everyone sees in Nigerian politics as an epitome of betrayal, should have known that what goes around comes around and according to the. Betrayal is the only truth that sticks, according to Arthur Miller.
I believe that Shaibu is wise enough or experienced enough in the game of betrayal to know that a time such as this must come, that a perfect moment will always present itself and if I may end this piece with a quote from Barbara Kingsolver, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, “Every betrayal contains a perfect moment, a coin stamped heads or tails with salvation on the other side”.
It is time for Comrade Philip Shaibu to dance to his song, “pepper them o”, while we stand afar, with hands akimbo, and enjoy the show while it lasts.
Dcn. Darlington Okpebholo Ray, a media executive, publisher, and human Resource expert, writes from Greenwich, London., United Kindom