‘I Did not Receive Any Notice of Impeachment’, Edo Deputy Governor Shaibu 

By Miracle Ogunde

As the impeachment plot against the Edo Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu thickens, the office of the deputy governor says it received no impeachment notice from the state House of Assembly.

In a letter dated March 12, addressed to the Speaker, Blessing Agbebaku, through his Personal Assistant, Charles Olubayo, the deputy governor denied ever receiving an impeachment notice from the state House of Assembly.

The Deputy Governor’s office highlighted that the Speaker directed the impeachment notice to be served through newspaper publications, citing the Deputy Governor’s alleged refusal to acknowledge the earlier notice sent via the Clerk of the House.

Shaibu’s team emphasised the need for accurate information and expressed concern over the purported actions attributed to the Speaker during the plenary session.

The letter, titled “Re: Service of impeachment notice,” clarified inaccuracies and misleading information stemming from the plenary session on March 11, 2024.

“Mr. Speaker was quoted to have also stated at the said plenary that “the action became necessary because the Deputy Governor refused to acknowledge an earlier impeachment notice sent to him through the Clerk of the House.

“We wish to state categorically that: No impeachment notice was ever served on the Deputy Governor let alone refusing to acknowledge the impeachment notice. The Deputy Governor has since March 3, 2024 travelled out of Benin to Abuja and has not returned to Benin since the said March 3, 2024.

“The Clerk never saw the Deputy Governor whether in the office, at home or anywhere for that matter since the said date hence surprised that the House resolved to publish the impeachment notice in the Observer and other National dailies because “the Deputy Governor refused to acknowledge the earlier impeachment notice sent to him through the Clerk of the House”. One therefore wonders where the Clerk or his appointee served him the impeachment notice and he refused to acknowledge it.

“That neither the Clerk nor any person sent impeachment notice to the Deputy Governor which he refused to acknowledge. It is therefore our prayer that Mr. Speaker corrects the impression created in the public as the outcome of yesterday’s plenary to avoid misrepresentation in this all-important matter.”