The reinstated deputy governor of Edo state, Philip Shuaib on Wednesday, boasted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will take over leadership in the state in the upcoming governorship election.
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Shuaib who recently returned to the APC after his victory at the Federal High Court in Abuja, said this while speaking to journalists at the party headquarters in Abuja.
Speaking after meeting with the ruling party’s National Working Committee (NWC), the reinstated deputy governor said politics is game of numbers and that he, like many others have joined the APC to ensure that the party take over power in Edo State in September 21, 2024.
He stated that, “The chances of APC is getting brighter and better everyday. We left APC to join the PDP to win in 2020. This time, we again, the major factor that left the APC (the state executive of APC and Local Government executives), I can authoritatively tell you now, the same state executives of APC that moved are back to APC. We are back and the election is about numbers, if the game is about numbers, APC numbers are increasing. PDP numbers are depreciating. So obviously those that will win the election are those whose numbers have appreciated, not those who are declining. I can tell you that PDP is gone in Edo State.
“So, we that have left for APC are now making APC stronger. Those in PDP are still there saying the right thing must be done. That Asue Ighodalo is not their candidate. A house divided against itself, you know, will not stand. My short journey to PDP was a terrible experience. I have never been a member of PDP until 2020. I left APC because of the governor and because of the governor again I have left PDP back to my home”, he said.
Speaking on his escapade with the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, Shuaib said that he sacrificed everything for the governor but he (Obaseki) treated him like an outcast.
He said despite the situation, as a christain and good Catholic, he is willing to forgive the governor.
“You know human beings have different ways of behaving. And the only person that is perfect is the Almighty God, every other person that is created by God, none of us is perfect. But at the same time, God gave us a commandment like every other country’s constitution. One of the greatest commandment in the world is to love your neighbour as yourself. And if all of us can actually take to that commandment, there will be peace in the whole world.
“I used to see the word perfect relationship. But I have just discovered that there is no perfect relationship with what has happened between the governor and I. From my own end, I gave everything. I gave my all to have him succeed, because for me, it is about the state and the state in everything.
“So, I gave all my earnings even to my official earnings. I forfeited lots of my official entitlement. Why? because I didn’t want any trouble or disagreement.
“Even with my official entitlement, most of them I didn’t even apply for. As small as 28 days, that is the first earning that you earn whether as civil servant or in government, both first and second term, I didn’t have it. I confine myself within the official and salary that comes to me”, he noted.
Shuaib also dismissed reports quoting the state government as asking him to return the 22 official vehicles in his care, saying all the vehicles in his convoy belong to him, except one Jeep the governor bought for him in the third year of their administration.
In his words, “Recently, I saw an advert that said I should return 22 vehicles. Only one vehicle in the seven and half years that the governor bought for my convoy. Only one.
“Every vehicle you see in my convoy, some of them especially the landcruiser, i used for three years. The Prado that I used as back up for three years was the Prado that I used as majority leader of Edo state House of Assembly. The hilux that I was using in the State Assembly and the one I bought when I came to the House of Representatives. It was the third year of his first term that the governor eventually bought a landcruiser jeep and even when they were bringing the landcruiser jeep it had an accident on the way. We had to change the wheels and it took two weeks for us to fix it”.
