The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) demand for Philip Shaibu’s resignation as baseless and provocative.
Shaibu, who was the deputy governor of Edo State until his impeachment on April 8, remains a member of the PDP. Recently, in Benin, he criticized Asue Ighodalo, the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate for the upcoming September 21 election, calling him an outsider and endorsing Senator Monday Okpebholo of the APC as the preferred local candidate for Edo State, despite Okpebholo’s loss to Ighodalo in the PDP primary.
In response, Rev. Olu Martin, the PDP’s Deputy Director of Media, called for Shaibu’s resignation, arguing that Shaibu should not remain in the party while undermining its candidate, Ighodalo, and questioning his local credentials.
The APC, in a statement on Tuesday, defended Shaibu, noting his previous affiliation with the party along with his former boss, Governor Godwin Obaseki, who was elected under the APC in 2016. The APC suggested that the PDP should focus on Obaseki’s leadership, which they argue is leading the party towards irrelevance.
Orobosa Omo-Ojo, the Publicity Director of the Edo State APC, stated, “The All Progressives Congress calls on Nigerians and particularly the people of Edo State to ignore the unfounded and vexatious call for former deputy governor Philip Shaibu to resign from the floundering Peoples Democratic Party due to his support for Senator Monday Okpebholo, the APC candidate.”
“It is obvious that PDP is yet to understand the hurricane that has happened in their party. Virtually everyone with political relevance has left and those still in the party are only lying in wait as undertakers to bury the party.
“Rather than ask Shaibu to resign, the PDP should suspend their outgoing governor, Obaseki, for leading them to political obscurity in Edo State.
“Comrade Philip Shaibu is an Iroko, a true definition of homeboy and a political giant in the state, like the APC candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo.
“The APC wishes to give free advice to the dead PDP that it should concentrate its energy on how to tell Edo people what Asue Ighodalo and his running mate intend to bring on board after both have served the state for 28 years without any major development.
“The only sane thing left for the PDP is to join Obaseki and Ighodalo on a pleading tour of the state and beg for forgiveness, especially after last week’s confession by the state government that question papers for basic examination in the state was leaked to public schoolteachers in the state, which eventually ended up with maize sellers.
“We are by this statement demanding that Edo State Government should immediately set up an independent panel of inquiry to investigate the circumstances that led to the series of examination questions leakages that have trailed the so-called Edo Best education programme since 2020.”
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