Philip Shaibu, a former deputy governor of Edo State, declared his support for the opposition's All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Monday Okpebholo, in Edo's gubernatorial election on September 21.
According to Shaibu, “Today, I came in as a homeboy. We have only two homeboys in the major political parties in Edo State. One is in labour, and one is in APC, and I choose to follow another homeboy in the APC. The man they are parading in the PDP is an outsider, and we have also agreed that no more godfatherism in Edo. So, the man the PDP is trying to portray in Edo now is the godson of Obaseki and there is no way godsons will now be governor of Edo.”
The former deputy governor was speaking on the sidelines of the 2024 Father's Day celebrations at Saint Paul's Catholic Church in Benin City, Edo State's capital.
Shaibu stated that since he had dropped out of the race, his preferred choice is from the remaining homeboys in Okpebholo. He pointed out that Governor Godwin Obaseki has stated that everyone is free to choose who to support in any election, which is why he has officially endorsed the APC governorship candidate in the race despite his PDP membership.
He declared that his support for the opposition is not an anti-party activity, stressing that even Governor Obaseki in the last election, was partly PDP and Labour Party.
