Edo state Governor Godwin Obaseki has accused his deputy Philip Shuaibu of causing the crisis rocking the government house by plotting to unseat him by taking control of the state house of assembly.
He alleged that his deputy, Philip Shuaibu is desperate to succeed him as the next governor of the state by unseating him with the connivance of the state house of assembly.
Governor Obaseki made this known during a meeting with Etsako leaders in Jattu, Etsako West Local Government Area of the state on Friday.
He explained that Shuaibu revealed his desperation to succeed him by working with the opposition party to take control of the assembly during the selection of the leadership of the Edo State House of Assembly.
He said “What struck me, and I have never said this to anybody, is that after I proclaimed the House of Assembly, we were now going to elect officers. He was in Abuja, he came back that day
“My deputy called the leader in APC, telling that leader that during the elections on the next day, particularly the speaker of the house of assembly, he has five members who are loyal to him and that he would like the seven members of APC to work with his five members of PDP to produce the next speaker.
“At that point, I called the PDP members to my house just to familiarize myself with them and he tried to barge in. I said you can’t just come to my house. You have to have the courtesy but now it is my prerogative whether to allow you to come in or not.
“After I heard what he had done, I said ‘You can’t come into our meeting’. As far as I am concerned, that was not working in our common interest.”
Obaseki questioned the loyalty of Philip Shuaibu to his administration and accused him of allowing his quest for power to make him betray his oath of office to the extent that he would want to unseat him through a coup.
“Why would the deputy governor seek to have another speakership candidate outside of what the governor wants? Are we working together?
“That is where I now knew that we had a problem. The deputy governor has become so desperate to take over that he would do anything, including carrying out a coup, against his governor.
“How can you say you are loyal and you will do that sort of a thing?”
