By RAPHAEL OKHIRIA, Benin City
Despite Governor Godwin Obaseki’s stiff opposition to his intention to run for the 2024 governorship position in Edo state, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu, the state deputy governor, yesterday, officially declared for the gubernatorial race.
Recall that for several months running, Governor Obaseki has been having a running battle with his deputy, Philip Shaibu, due to the latter’s intention to participate in the scheduled September 19, 2024 governorship election in Edo state.
But on Monday in Benin City, Shaibu, who has been the deputy governor of the state since 2016, said he would run for the office of the number one seat in the state on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
After his official declaration, the deputy governor, launched his campaign office also located in Benin City, at an event attended by his friends, political associates, well-wishers and party supporters in branded accoutrements.
“After all the consultation we have made, we needed to now make the answer to our consultation known to our people. And the answer is clear: they have asked me to run,” Shaibu disclosed while addressing his audience and teeming supporters.
The 53-year-old politician said he has put his life on the line for the development and growth of the state, noting that he was determined to make the South-South state great again.
Shaibu is from Edo North Senatorial District, the same district as the immediate governor of the state and current lawmaker representing the district in the 10th National Assembly, Adams Oshiomhole, stated that though he was being persecuted because of his political ambition but that he not crushed.
The deputy governor who described
himself as “100 per cent Home Boy”, who knows the state very well, and not someone imported.
Shaibu, however hinged his campaign on mainly five pillars that included infrastructure development, economic diversification, Education, Sports.
Others, he added were skills development and job creation, healthcare, social welfare system, agriculture, rural development, poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability, and transparent governance.
He further disclosed that while working closely with Obaseki in the past seven years, a solid foundation for progress had been laid in the state, which he promised to build upon.
