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As Philip Shaibu’s Father Replies Wike: My Takeaway From The Bad Apple That Spreads Rot

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2023: I'm Not In Any Relationship With Obaseki - Wike

In a frantic bid to save face, following the verbal obliteration by Governor Nyesom Wike over the weekend, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State committed a considerable sum from the state coffers to the articulation and advertisement of a response, in which he called the Rivers Governor a bully and accused him of sponsoring discord in the Edo State Chapter of the PDP.

However, as is typical of the MOU Governor, the advertised response was just another pointless drain on the state treasury owing, among other reasons, to the poor and porous arguments it contained and the lack of rhetorical strength capable of satisfying the intended purpose for which it was commissioned.

Governor Obaseki opened his response with a tacit admittance that the threats of his Deputy Governor, Mr. Philip Shaibu, which provoked Governor Wike’s verbal onslaught, were indeed out of place and reckless. However, in an amusing attempt at infantilization, which is insulting to the man he claimed to defend, he attributed Shaibu’s conduct to youthful exuberance.

Invoking his leadership of a student body, Obaseki implied the rant of his Deputy Governor was no more than an immature tantrum from a man-child who requires the understanding and indulgence of proper adults.

The obvious problem with this is that Mr. Philip Shaibu, born in 1969 and thus 52 years old, does not qualify as a “youth” by any standard and should have long learned the etiquettes of speech and public conduct fitting for a leader in his position.

If he hasn’t by now, as his principal suggested in the response, then perhaps he deserves to be thrown out of leadership to make room for adults capable of necessary restraints and conduct that reflect their age.

No one should be made to deal with a man locked in a perpetual state of childishness, even as his head sprouts grey hairs. Besides, disciplinary action, which Wike has called for, is a known way to keep children in check. Since Shaibu is a child, the party must teach him how to act through disciplinary measures.

With the passion of a recent convert, Governor Obaseki proceeded in the rejoinder to harp on values of the PDP, a party he joined circumstantially less than two years ago, to a veteran like Governor Nyesom Wike who in fact facilitated his entry and acquisition of the party’s ticket against the interests of the other established party members who were left with no other choice but terminate their aspirations, after several months of investments.

A man who profited from such an arrangement, in which his status as Governor was weaponized to deny far more qualified party faithful a chance to advance themselves within a structure they labored for years to build, is now lamenting unfair treatment, inequality, and a purported attempt by another man to monopolize ownership of the party.

Members of the APC in Edo State must have been aghast at the bully charge Governor Obaseki leveled against Wike, having suffered greatly from his tyranny. He after all responded to their dissent with invented building plans followed by illegal demolitions. In Edo State, freedom –whether of speech or assembly – is conditioned on Governor Obaseki’s approval; or in some cases, which side of the bed he wakes on.

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Despite devoting several sentences to sermonize about the values of the PDP and the party’s founding mission, it was surprising that Governor Obaseki, who is clearly more catholic than the Pope on this matter of defining the PDP’s ideals, did not back his request for ‘harmonization’ or ‘integration’ with supporting clauses or outlined mechanism for such a process in the party’s constitution.

Perhaps it is because such a process is unknown to the PDP constitution and the stance of Chief Dan Orbih, who Obaseki denigrated as a puppet that receives instructions from guest houses in Port Harcourt, is better aligned with the recommendations of the party.

His claim that the PDP in Edo State has registered over 500,000 members since his defection, a falsehood inserted to strengthen his hand in a conflict he sees himself losing, is a laughable fabrication easily dismissed by a careful study of voting figures in the state since the return to democracy in 1999.

Furthermore, in a poorly-concealed attempt to recruit other political actors to his side, Governor Obaseki made references to a purported Presidential ambition nursed by Governor Wike and his alleged diversion of Rivers state’s resources to the goal.

Unfortunately for him, his criticism lacked bite, because, in terms of performance, his MOUs stand no chance when measured against the projects of Governor Wike. If anyone needs a lecture on prudent management of resources, it definitely is a man who took out adverts to respond to a political adversary.

For reasons unclear, except maybe a delusion of grandeur (to borrow one of the terms he threw around in the response), Governor Obaseki believes he is in a position to lecture Governor Wike, or anyone at all, on the importance of building strong institutions premised on the ideals of democracy, not around individuals.

This is a man who suffers the exclusive shame and blemish of ruling over a state with a deformed legislative body. Because of his desperation and utter disregard for the constitution, Edo State House Assembly features only ten members, as opposed to the constitutionally-mandated 24. No other state in Nigeria shares the infamy of such an anomaly with Edo. Certainly not Rivers.

He also lamented ‘destabilizing influences’ when reality suggests that no other person in recent memory has posted the same streak as Governor Obaseki when it comes to inducing divisiveness and rancor. Anywhere he goes, rancor and division follow. As it was in the APC, so it is in the PDP. He is the common factor, the bad apple that spreads rot.

Finally, with no end in sight to the controversy, Edo people should brace for another wasted four years. He blamed a nonexistent “godfather” and those pressuring him to “open the treasury” for the failure of 2016 to 2020. Orbih and Wike are the leading candidates for the excuse of the unfolding failure of 2020 to 2024. Obaseki does not intend to govern.

By John Mayaki, spokesperson of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a former Edo State Governorship candidate.