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Philip Shaibu, the former deputy governor of Edo State, has announced his support for Monday Okpebholo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, in the upcoming governorship election scheduled for September 21 in Edo State.
Shaibu mentioned that the governorship contest initially featured three local candidates: himself, Okpebholo, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP).
“I will support a homeboy, I came into politics to contest as the governor of Edo State because I need government to return to homeboy – people that understand our plight, people that understand what the people are feeling. Even the United Nations talks about the need for assessment. We don’t want outsiders; we have experimented with outsiders, and it’s not working, so this time around, we want homeboy,” he said, according to Channel TV.
The former deputy governor made these remarks during the 2024 Father’s Day celebration at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Benin City, the capital of Edo State.
Shaibu emphasised that after exiting the race, he is now supporting his preferred candidate from the local area of Okpebholo.
Why is Shaibu supporting opposition?
He mentioned that Edo governor Godwin Obaseki has affirmed that everyone is free to support any candidate in elections, which is why Shaibu has openly endorsed the APC governorship candidate despite being a member of the PDP.
He clarified that his endorsement of the opposition is not an act of disloyalty to his party, noting that even Governor Obaseki had partial affiliations with both the PDP and the Labour Party in the last election.
“The governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, says that everybody has the right to support whoever he wants to support, but he forgot also that he doesn’t have the right to stop anybody from whom he wants to support,” he said.
“But I take one part from what he said: we all have the right to support whom we want to support, so it’s my right to decide who I want to support,” he said.