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By Ehichioya Ezomon
It’s like the kettle calling the pot black when, the other day, Edo State Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu lamented that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s betrayed him – on account of the governor “supporting an outsider” (an unknown non-politician) for the 2024 governorship, rather than his deputy of over seven years in the governance of Edo State.
Which makes one to wonder if politicians have conscience, and if it pricks them? Comrade Shaibu’s forgotten how he betrayed former Governor Adams Oshiomhole – whom he still addresses as “my father” perhaps to humour him – in order to ingratiate Mr Obaseki, who also betrayed Comrade Oshiomhole.
Let’s see snippets of Shaibu’s lamentations on January 10, 2024, during an interview on Arise Television, as reported by Vanguard: “I feel betrayed by the governor (Obaseki). I feel very betrayed. When we go to church, there are certain biblical verses that are becoming to make meaning to me.
“There is this particular verse that has been going through my mind: ‘The heart of man is desperately wicked.’ When I see what the governor is doing, the verse now makes meaning to me.”
On how he became deputy governor, and his political and financial contributions to Obaseki’s elections in 2016 and 2020, and his government, Shaibu said: “Actually, I was persuaded, and there was no protest (from members of the All Progressives Congress (APC). I actually didn’t want to be a deputy governor. I was very comfortable in the House of Representatives.
“It took almost one month to get me to accept to be the deputy governor of Edo State. I accepted to add value to the ticket of Obaseki because Obaseki was not known, and he was not one of the politicians. They needed a young, vibrant politician that has won election before and that can add political value to the ticket.
“I added value in terms of my political structure, my finances. All the vehicles that were used to campaign in 2016 are mine. I lost about 20% of my political capital in Edo North to support Godwin Obaseki, and in supporting him even as deputy governor.
“I supported the second term bid of the governor with my finances, including how we got the ticket of the PDP. I contributed financially, both in naira and in dollars. (According to Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, as of December 11, 2023, Shaibu’s net worth was $5m or approximately N2bn.) If I say betrayal, it’s an understatement. I feel very hurt and betrayed.”
So, in a manner of reciprocity, Shaibu expects Obaseki to support his aspiration to succeed him in 2024, amidst claims that Obaseki promised to back Shaibu for supporting his governorship, government, and the battle to dethrone Oshiomhole’s political hegemony, and sack him as National Chairman of the APC.
At loggerheads over the 2024 governorship – leading to Shaibu taking out court writs to pre-empt alleged impeachment moves against him by Obaseki and the House of Assembly, and Obaseki countering by divesting Shaibu of certain duties and powers of his office, and relocating his office outside the Government House in Benin City – Shaibu still invoked Obaseki’s name during his declaration for Governor in November 2023.
“As your deputy governor in the last seven years, I have had the privilege of working closely with our amiable governor, Godwin Obaseki, to lay a solid foundation for the progress in Edo State,” Shaibu said, apparently flattering the governor, as it’s clear by then that Obaseki’s support was for his business partner, Mr Asue Ighodalo, a Lagos-based lawyer.
Polity watchers aren’t surprised about Obaseki’s cold shoulder to Shaibu. It’s a case of “use-and-dump after Shaibu acted as the house mouse, inviting Obaseki into the house to deal decisive political blows against Oshiomhole.
Against opposition from formidable foundation members of the defunct Action Congress (AC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and the APC – including his Deputy Governor Pius Odubu – Oshiomhole single-handedly picked Obaseki as APC’s candidate, and did a yeoman’s campaign for him to win the 2016 governorship against former Secretary to Edo State Government (SSG), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who’d returned to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when Oshiomhole wouldn’t look his way for the governorship.
But not long after, Obaseki broke with Oshiomhole, accusing his erstwhile soul mate and political benefactor of attempting to lord it over him and his government as a “godfather,” – which Oshiomhole really assumed in 2016 to swing the candidacy for and “crown” Obaseki as Governor of Edo State.
Yet, Obaseki – underming Oshiomhole’s benevolent spirit that broke his palm kernel for him – was to reward Oshiomhole with a series of betrayals. If Obaseki could do that to Oshiomhole, who’s Shaibu, an appendage to Obaseki already “anointed” by then Governor Oshiomhole as “Governor-in-waiting” before Shaibu’s picked as his running mate!
Shaibu should remember how the legacy members of the PDP, headed by National Vice Chairman (South-South) of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, kicked against his being made running mate to Obaseki in the 2020 election, and Obaseki would prevail on them that he and Shaibu were inseparable “political Siamese twins” – though Shaibu did a lot of ground-wetting, “in Naira and in dollars,” as he admitted above, to smoothen their path to retaining the governorship.
Now, the question should be: Who’s a better or worse betrayer between Shaibu and Obaseki, both of whom derived their respective position in the governance of Edo State to the political benefaction of Senator Oshiomhole?
Unless there’re contrary revelations – such as Shaibu claiming he’s pleaded with for a month to accept the post of deputy governor, without naming on whose behalf the persons pled – information in the public domain remains that Oshiomhole enabled the nomination of Obaseki and Shaibu for governor and deputy governor, and their election in 2016.
Agreed that Shaibu’s a member of the House of Representatives in 2015 – after two terms at the Edo State House of Assembly (2007-2015) – and as such, had some political pedigree and structures in Etsako Central/East/West federal constituency – one of three constituencies of Edo North senatorial district.
In that wise, Shaibu can boast he’s part of – and not entirely – the instrument the AC deployed to win Edo North in the 2007 poll that ushered Oshiomhole in as governor in 2008; the ACN in 2012 for Oshiomhole’s re-election; and the APC in the 2015 General Election, the 2016 governorship for Obaseki’s election, and the 2019 general election in the district, respectively.
But Shaibu’s bandied “political myth” in Edo North was demystified in the 2020 governorship for Obaseki’s second term in office, and in the 2023 general election – both of which the PDP lost to the APC even when Shaibu’s deputy governor on the platform of the PDP.
Meaning that all along from 2007, Shaibu held onto Oshiomhole’s coatail to win twice into Edo Assembly (2007 and 2012) and House of Representatives in 2015, and yet claims Edo North is his political stronghold. While he failed in his bid for the Edo Assembly in 2003 under the past All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the results of the 2020 Edo governorship, and the 2023 general election show that Shaibu’s political influence is limited to Etsako West, and actually to his ward!
In closing, observers would reckon Governor Obaseki as a “better betrayer” of Senator Oshiomhole than Deputy Governor Shaibu. While Obaseki’s from Edo South, and a stranger until probably friendship, business and politics brought him and Oshiomhole together; Shaibu and Oshiomhole are of the same kindred in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo North.
Put simply, Shaibu and Oshiomhole are kinsmen. And that’s why Shaibu’s a “worse betrayer,” whose strike against Oshiomhole – like that of Brutus against Cesaer – is the deepest cut, such that his charge of Obaseki betraying him is humourously laughable!
* Mr Ezomon, journalist and media consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
