Edo guber: Shaibu shuns PDP, declares support for APC candidate

You are true indigene of Benin, Oba tells Akpata

Ahead of the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, the former Deputy Governor of the state, Philip Shaibu, has distanced himself from the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo.
  
Shaibu, who spoke on the sidelines of the 2024 Father’s Day celebration, on Sunday, at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church, Benin City, said that he prefers to support a homeboy.
  
Shaibu, who was impeached by the Edo State House of Assembly a few months ago, claimed that the PDP candidate is an outsider.
    
He, however, declared support for the APC candidate, warning that the victory of the PDP flag bearer would reintroduce godfatherism in Edo State.
  
He said: “Today, I came in as a homeboy. We have only two homeboys in the major political parties in Edo State. One is in LP, and the other in APC, and I choose to follow another homeboy in the APC.”

MEANWHILE, the Oba of Benin, His Royal Majesty, Oba Ewuare II, has affirmed that the candidate of the LP in the Edo governorship election, Olumide Akpata, is a true indigene of the Benin Kingdom.

Oba Ewuare II disclosed this when Akpata, in the company of the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, visited the Palace to seek the royal blessing as the party began its election campaigns.
   
The Oba recalled how he supported the LP candidate as the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).