Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has given a condition for accepting the public apology tendered to him by his Deputy Hon. Philip Shaibu. The Governor who returned from his vacation abroad over the weekend said he has no business with his deputy, until he proves absolute loyalty to him.
Before arriving Nigeria from his foreign trip the Governor had instructed all members of Exco to assemble in Lagos for a two-day meeting with him. He insisted that the Deputy Governor should not be invited or informed of the meeting. The meeting was termed “Exco retreat with Mr. Governor”.
Arrangements were made for those invited to the meeting to arrive Lagos last Saturday.
Members of the State House of Assembly had theirs a fortnight ago in Rwanda. Before the meeting, Obaseki told members of his kitchen cabinet in Lagos that for him to forgive his deputy, the latter must publicly withdraw from the governorship race.
Obaseki added that if the Deputy dares to participate in the forthcoming primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, his security vote will be stopped and he will be excluded from all government activities, including meetings of the Edo State Executive Council.
As a prelude to making good his threat, the State Executive Council meeting for this week took place in Lagos today, Monday the 25th.
The invitation for the meeting was extended to all exco members with the exception of the Deputy Governor.
To avoid public criticism, the Governor told his handlers to fix an Exco seminar a day before the meeting to enable third parties attend, so that it will not be considered a formal but emergency exco meeting.
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Alaghodaro, Asue Ighodalo, who is the Governor’s anointed candidate for next year’s governorship election was invited to the Exco seminar in Lagos.
“It is expected that the Governor will unveil and introduce his successor to all exco members in Lagos this week” a source attending the seminar said. It will be recalled that last week the Deputy Governor of Edo State was locked out from his office in Government House Benin City, on the orders of the Governor. It was this particular incident that made the Deputy Governor to publicly apologize to the Governor, who in the last one month has refused to communicate with him.
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