• Party not IDP camp for embattled politicians, says Oshiomhole
• Edo PDP inaugurates campaign council ahead of council elections
The Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, has finalised plans to join the All Progressives Congress (APC), ending speculations amid the political turmoil between him and Governor Godwin Obaseki.
A high-ranking member of the APC, who disclosed this to The Guardian on the condition of anonymity, said Shaibu will be received into the party early next week by the APC National Working Committee (NWC).
The decision to pitch his tent with the APC followed his move to the Federal High Court to seek an injunction against an alleged impeachment plot against him.
Obaseki had, however, said the move by Shaibu to seek a court order to stop his purported impeachment is preemptive ahead of his defection to the APC.
MEANWHILE, former governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday, said that APC is a political party and not a rehabilitation centre or Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp for disgruntled politicians to seek shelter. This he said, following reports that the embattled deputy governor is considering dumping the PDP for APC.
While speaking with journalists in Benin City during a condolence visit to the family of the departed Esogban of Benin Kingdom, David Edebiri, the former governor, who is now the Senator representing Edo North in the National Assembly, said that Shaibu should learn to be loyal to his boss.
IN another development, ahead of the September 2 council elections in Edo State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has set up a 70-man campaign council headed by Senator Odion Ugbesia.
While inaugurating the council at the party’s secretariat, Benin City, state chairman of PDP, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, said that the sole purpose of the campaign council is to deliver all chairmanship candidates of the 18 local councils and the 192 councillorship candidates of the party during the September 2 council elections in the state.
According to Aziegbemi, the party expects that the campaign council would take the message of the PDP to all the nooks and crannies of the state to ensure victory in the elections.
While assuring that the party is ready for the elections, Aziegbemi said: “We were the only party that had a vigorous and robust congress to elect our candidates for this election. We are not like other parties, which are alleging that our party is going to rig. Governor Godwin Obaseki met with all party aspirants and candidates after the primaries.”
