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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Ahead of the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, the factional candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Philip Shaibu, has vowed to carry on with his preparations even if doing so would cause his impeachment by the House of Assembly.
Shaibu, who is the deputy governor of the state, stated this at a press conference in Abuja, on Saturday.
Recall that the chairman of the PDP governorship primary and Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, had on Thursday announced Asue Ighodalo as the winner of th election, having polled a total of 577 votes.
However, a parallel primary that took place at the Benin residence of the deputy governor, a PDP chieftain, Bartholomew Moses, declared Shaibu the winner, saying he won “with over 300 votes.”
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, Shaibu described himself as the authentic candidate, noting that the primary that produced Ighodalo was nothing short of a social party attended by “people who wore aso ebi from all over the place.”
Shaibu, who defected to the PDP from All Progressives Congress (APC) alongside Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, in 2020, said his office has been subjected to all manner of degrading treatment by the governor. He, however, added that he is the man to win the election for the PDP.
“Even as we speak, my team has been calling me that, ‘look at what these people are doing. They are saying they are going to impeach you, that you have gotten too far.’ They are threatening to impeach me.
“And I said, well, if fighting for my rights and all of us collectively triggers my impeachment, so be it,” he said.
The deputy governor, who described Ighodalo as “my far elder brother,” said PDP should know that the lawyer-turned-politician does not have what it takes to win the election.
“If the party wants to win the election, they will not go for Ighodalo. If the party wants to win the election, the people have spoken, and they have spoken very loud and clear.
“If people can stand bullets to say this is who we want, then the party should follow that direction,” he added.
Shaibu also revealed that he has appointed former APC deputy chairman in Edo State, Pastor Kenneth Asekomhe, as chairman of a committee to reach out to Ighodalo’s camp to forge a common front for the PDP in the election.
“He is the chairman of the committee that I have set up to reach out to the Ighodalo group for us to have a discussion to see how we will go because it is only him that is not on board,” he said.
He added that he is working with the PDP National Vice Chairman (South South), Chief Dan Orbih.
“The leader of the legacy coalition is Dan Orbih. We are working together and that is why it is important that Asue (Ighodalo) join the legacy coalition because the coalition is those that were in APC that moved to PDP to meet those that were already in PDP.
“Those that were in PDP that we met are the legacy. The coalition now is that we joined the old PDP moving together because we don’t want to hear new and old PDP and that is why we call it a legacy coalition,” Shaibu stated.
On whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (iNEC) monitored the primary election that produced him, Shaibu answered affirmatively without going into details.
“INEC and the party were there but I will not disclose a lot. If we don’t go to court, fine. But if we do go to court, all this information will be unveiled,” he said.