Philip Shaibu, the impeached deputy Governor of Edo State, has moved to reunite with Oshiomhole and vowed not to support Ighodalo in the forthcoming governorship poll in the state.
Shaibu made this known in an interview (with The Punch), stating that he is not ready to support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate, Asue Ighodalo.
The former deputy governor said he would not support Ighodalo because, despite several attempts to know his plans, the latter failed to open up to him about his governorship ambition.
Shaibu noted that he has consistently apologised to Oshiomhole. However, he does not regret his past actions because the former Governor led them to fight against godfathers.
He said, “First, I am not ready to support the governorship candidate of the party, Asue Ighodalo, and until the PDP does the needful, I may not be able to answer the question. I cannot support him because he didn’t open up to me about his ambition despite asking him several times, including at my house. The last time I asked was in November. So, I was taken aback when he spoke on TV that he was being pushed to run.
“I called him and asked who was pushing him to run, but he told me to ignore the report and that it was a social media thing. But his younger brother, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, said that the move to make his elder brother the governor of Edo State started two years ago. Edo State needs a “homeboy” to govern them, not people who will rent houses during their tenure and leave as soon as it ends. We need people who we can relate to and understand the challenges of the people. The PDP governorship candidate is more of an Ibadan man than an Edo man.
“I am ready. I have also consistently apologised to Comrade, and I am using this avenue to do so again over what happened in 2020, especially the language I used during that period. I look at some of the videos and the only thing I can do is apologise. However, I don’t regret the action I took because Oshiomhole is the one who led us to fight against godfathers. I felt what he was trying to do at that time was wrong. Reuniting with him will be interesting. Even amid the fight, I have maintained that he is my father. I will reunite with him sooner or later. He is also my mentor. So, a lot of things that I do, I learnt from him.”
