The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Edo State Chapter, has called for the resignation of the former deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, over his decision to support the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate in the September 21st governorship elections in the state, News About Nigeria reports.
The PDP stated that it is contradictory for Shaibu to remain in the PDP and be demarketing the party’s governorship candidate and, therefore, urged him to rather resign his membership.
Recall that Shaibu, a member of the PDP, declared on Sunday that he would be supporting the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Monday Okpebholo, in the September 21 governorship election in the state.
According to him, while Okpebholo is a homeboy who understands the challenges in the state, the PDP candidate, Ighodalo, is an outsider and a product of godfatherism.
“We don’t want an outsider. We have experimented with an outsider and it is not working, so this time, we want a homeboy. We have only two homeboys in the major political parties: one is in the Labour Party and one is in the All Progressives Congress.
“I chose to follow the 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. The man the PDP is parading is the godson of Obaseki and there is no way a godson can be governor of Edo State again,” he said.
However, reacting to this, the Deputy Director General of the media arm of the Edo PDP Governorship Campaign Council, Rev. Olu Martin, on Monday, described Shaibu’s reason for supporting the APC candidate as baseless.
He noted that the fact that the PDP’s candidate didn’t grow up in Edo doesn’t make him a stranger in his own state.
He maintained that it was contradictory for Shaibu to remain in the PDP and be working against the candidate of the party, and, therefore, asked him to resign.
“I thought Shaibu would tell us that the candidate he wants to support has the capacity, intelligence, knack for excellence, and smartness, which are the hallmarks of a great leader.
“The honourable thing he should have done is to resign from the PDP like others and support the APC candidate. His argument is that of weak people,” he stated.
