The rift between Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, appears to be far from over, with reports indicating that the deputy governor's office received only N300 million in budgetary support, compared to the governor's N19 billion, the Secretary to the State Government's (SSG) N18 billion, the House of Assembly's N13 billion, and the Head of Service's (HoS) N968 million.
Some commentators believe the reduction in funding for the deputy governor's office is due to his goal to succeed his boss as governor of the state.
The 2024 Appropriation bill was signed into law on Friday, December 15, 2023, in the evening.
According to reports, some lawmakers believed to be loyal to the deputy governor opposed the assembly's decision to pass the governor's budget, which they called a "unfair appropriation," but were overpowered by the Speaker, Rt. Hon Blessing Agbebaku, and others.
A glance at the highlighted budget revealed that the sum of N19, 148, 177, 584 was assigned to the office of the deputy governor, while the value of N345, 522,729 was allotted to the office of the governor.
The Secretary to State Government (SSG) had N8, 847, 647, 676, the Head of Service (HoS) got N968, 000, 000, and the House of Assembly had N13, 074, 500, 000.
A lawmaker connected to Obaseki has threatened to mock and financially punish Shaibu in a bid to frustrate his governorship aspiration.
An insider said the budget has divided the lawmakers, “The governor believes he is having a field day now but may end up the worst for it. The Speaker may be the first victim in all of these” he said .
However, a key Assembly member stated that there is no division in the house.”The sum allocated to the office of the deputy governor is not small. The deputy governor is contesting election and you know what it takes to contest, he will have no time for official duties so the governor decided that since he will not do those official work, you cannot allocate such money to the office” he said.
