By Seyi Odewale

The feud between the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, is getting messier following the response from one of the aides of the governor accusing the deputy governor of crying wolf where there was none.

Shaibu, who is believed to be warming up to replace Obaseki in 2024 following the expiration of his second term in office, had last Friday gone to the Federal High Court in Abuja, to seek an injunction to stop his purported impeachment being fuelled by his principal, Obaseki.

While ruling on the notice filed by Shaibu, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, issued a temporary restraining order.

*Dep gov acting like spoilt child, says gov’s aide

Reacting to the move by Shaibu, the governor’s Special Adviser on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, described the state deputy governor as a man desperate to succeed his boss, Obaseki.

Osagie, in a statement, further described Shaibu as someone whose attitude of entitlement has taken his act of indiscipline and hubris to the zenith by trying to create a crisis for his boss.

The statement said Shaibu has behaved like a spoilt brat, steering the crisis because the governor was opting for governance instead of politics.

Osagie said, “The deputy governor has now taken his indiscipline and hubris to the zenith by trying to create crisis for his boss, Governor Godwin Obaseki because of his inordinate and self-serving ambition to succeed the governor by all means, no matter whose ox is gored.”

The deputy governor, he said, was running like the biblical sinner who runs when no one pursues him, by going to the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking for a restraining order to stop Governor Obaseki from impeaching him, adding that it was a false claim.

“As a Deputy Governor, Shaibu has always been undisciplined and impudent. Imagine a deputy governor, who on sundry occasions saunters and gallivants into the state Executive Council (EXCO) meetings while the meeting was ongoing and the governor already superintending.

“The governor in most cases has to pause the important sessions and allow his deputy to take his seat like a king. He then says hello to his superior, the governor, who continues to superintend the crucial proceedings.

“These are no secrets. Any Executive Council member from November 12, 2016, when the governor became the state’s helmsman to date can attest to this fact. But for the governor’s maturity, tolerance, and carriage, Shaibu’s fecklessness would have hit the vortex long before now,” Osagie said in the statement.

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He continued, “Imagine a deputy governor who insists that all other vehicles on the governor’s convoy must be behind his vehicle when he and the governor are travelling together. Any vehicle in the convoy that dares to overtake his vehicle, Shaibu directs his security agents to descend on the driver and unleash mayhem on the same.”

“A particular driver in the governor’s convoy on a trip to a Niger Delta State in 2020 was beaten to a stupor under the supervision of the deputy governor and his wife, Maryann. His crime was that he dared to overtake Shaibu’s vehicle to catch up with the governor’s convoy, where he was supposed to be.

“That driver is disfigured to date with a missing tooth as a mark of the beast to remind him and his unborn generations that their father dared and played in the terrain of the ultimate bully. This is the kind of person that Philip Shaibu is,” he added.

According to Osagie, the blame goes to the governor for trying to adopt a civilised manner in relating with his deputy governor in a society where such a gesture is taken for weakness.

*Gov wants me out- Shaibu

Meanwhile, the court process initiated by the deputy governor suggests that the governor wants him impeached.

In the ruling on the motion argued by Moses Ebute SAN from the Chambers of Ogwu James Onoja SAN, in Abuja, Justice Mohammed directed the parties in the suit to maintain the “Status Quo Ante Bellum”.

The order for the status quo ante bellum released last Friday, would be in force till the time the defendants shall show cause as directed in another ruling of the Court made on July 27.

By that order, parties are to remain in the positions they were before Shaibu’s suit marked FHC/ABJ/ CS/1027/2023 was instituted against the defendants.

The defendants are the Inspector General of Police (IGP), State Security Service (SSS), Edo governor, Godwin Obaseki, the Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, and the Chief Judge, Edo State as 1st to 5th respectively.

Shaibu, in his originating summons, prayed the court to determine whether, given the provisions of sections 186 and 193 of the 1999 Constitution, Governor Obaseki has the power to instigate the IGP and SSS to harass, intimidate, molest, and prevent him from accessing his office to carry out his constitutionally guaranteed duties.

He also asked the court to ascertain whether the governor has the power to instigate the Speaker and the Chief Judge to commence impeachment proceedings against him to remove him from office on any other ground other than allegations of misconduct as contained in section 188 of the 1999 Constitution.

The deputy governor further prayed the court to decide whether, given the provisions of Section 193 of the 1999 Constitution, Obaseki can deliberately refuse to carry him along or inform him of the state Executive Council (SEC) meeting or any other meetings or functions within and outside Edo State without violating the express provision of the law.

Upon positive resolutions of the issues in his favour, Shaibu asked the court to declare that the IGP, SSS, and Obaseki lacked the power to intimidate, harass, embarrass, or molest him.

He also sought the Court’s declaration that Obaseki, the Speaker, and the Chief Judge lacked powers to impeach him on any grounds other than gross misconduct and that the Speaker and the Chief Judge at the same time, lacked requisite power to set up a seven-man panel of Inquiry on the same ground.

Among others, Shaibu requested an order of injunction restraining IGP, SSS, and Obaseki and their agents and privies from harassing, embarrassing, intimidating, and preventing them from stopping him from carrying out his legitimate functions.

He further prayed for an order of injunction restraining Obaseki, the Speaker, and the Chief Judge from taking any action, plan, or step on the impeachment plan and another order specifically stopping the Chief Judge from taking instructions from Obaseki and the Speaker to set up any panel of inquiry to impeach him.