The Edo State House of Assembly has impeached the state’s deputy governor Philip Shaibu.
He was impeached during the house’s plenary session on Monday in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
Shaibu’s impeachment followed the adoption of the report of a seven-man committee set up by the chief judge of Edo State Justice Daniel Okungbowa to investigate allegations of misconduct against the deputy governor.
Monday’s impeachment comes as a Federal High Court in Abuja was to resume sitting in the lawsuit filed by Shaibu to challenge the Edo State House of Assembly’s plan to impeach him.
Last week, the Edo House of Assembly started the impeachment proceedings against Shaibu. Twenty-one of the 24 lawmakers signed a petition to that effect.
They accused Shaibu of perjury and disclosure of the state government’s secrets.
During its plenary last Tuesday, the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly Blessing Agbebaku told the lawmakers that the seven-day ultimatum granted Shaibu to respond to the impeachment notice served on him had expired.
The speaker reminded the lawmakers that the impeachment notice was served on Shaibu on March 6, 2024. But due to what he described as the deputy governor’s alleged evasion of service, the Edo House of Assembly ordered a substituted service.
Agbebaku said the substituted service was published in the Nigerian Observer and the Vanguard Newspapers on March 12, 2024. He said March 19, 2024, made it seven days.
The Majority Leader of the Edo House of Assembly Charity Aiguobarueghan then moved a motion that Justice Okungbowa be directed to set up a committee to probe the petition against Shaibu.
Obaseki, Shaibu Battle For Supremacy
Shaibu’s impeachment is a culmination of the political impasse between the deputy governor and his principal Godwin Obaseki.
The duo have been at loggerheads in recent months over Shaibu’s plans to contest the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary.
Obaseki had claimed that Shaibu was planning a “coup” to unseat him. The latter also accused his principal of trying to instigate the Edo State House of Assembly to impeach him.
Shaibu later contested the PDP governorship primary and declared himself a winner in a parallel election. However, businessman Asue Ighodalo was declared as the party’s flagbearer for the exercise coming up later in the year.
