The embattled Deputy Governor of Edo State, Mr Philip Shaibu, in this interview monitored on Channels Television, speaks on his reinstatement by the court and other political developments in the state, among other issues
Have you resumed in your office?
Yes, I have resumed in the office I was before the purported impeachment.
I have written to the governor that I’m back and I’m restating all my political appointees, not that I’m doing fresh appointments because the judgement said the office of the deputy governor was never vacant.
So, I have started work where they left me before.
We have two Emirs in Kano; in Rivers, we have two state Assemblies; in Edo, it is two deputies….
No, there are no two deputies in Edo State.
What happened to the stay of execution?
I have the declarative judgement of the court with me. If you follow the law, you cannot stay a declarative judgement. But even if you want stay, ask them to show you the document of their own judgement as I’m doing it right now because we must go through the same court that gave me this judgement.
You are telling me you want to do this and I have not granted it, you cannot act yet. So, it can’t act as stay. Immediately the judgement was given, one hour after they sent someone to write that they have appealed and have gotten a stay.
That was one hour after, whereas the judgement came out the next day. Maybe, it is in the spirit world that they saw the judgement and now appealing it in the spiritual, but in the physical, they don’t have any stay of execution.
Must a stay be granted before it is executed; is that what your lawyers told you?
These guys are just lawless people. The justice gave two judgements that day. The first against me and Atsue Ighodalo, the second judgement was my reinstatement. And I have not seen the one given against me to study it and give to my lawyers to know if we are going to appeal it or not.
These people are lawless; they have not seen the judgement at all, they’re already telling you that they have stayed execution. As I speak, the governor has gone to Abuja looking for how to get a stay of execution.
I can bet you, let them bring a motion for a stay of execution. I’m not a lawyer, I was a lawmaker but I can bet you, he does not have a stay.
As long as this judgement is concerned, there was never vacancy in the office of the deputy governor and there will not be any vacancy in the office of the deputy governor till November 11. I challenge them to show us the order of stay of execution. They don’t have it.
Is your argument based on until the stay is granted?
It’s not enforceable, they should be lawful. They should follow the process. As a government, our duty is to abide by the rule of law.
In 2016, when the governor and I started this campaign for the government house, one of the things the governor promised was that there will be law and order.
If we promised law and order but cannot follow simple judgement, the rest is history and you know what that means. That means a failure on our side.
But you know that, they would definitely appeal, so it is not over until it is over…
I’m not against them appealing; I’m also studying the order, whether I will appeal, but you must obey this declarative judgement. Immediately the pronouncement was made, I’m reinstated automatically and if you must appeal, you will follow the process and until that appeal is granted, it remains like that.
And if you want to apply for a stay, until that stay is granted, there is nothing you can do. Before the judge grants that stay, he would check if that stay would be injurious to the person involved in the judgement. Until the judge grants that, application for a stay does not act as a stay itself.
I’ve told you that the law as I’m told and by knowledge and by Supreme Court judgement where this case may end up, you must obey a declarative judgement. And if you must get to stay, you must go back to the same court that granted the judgement and ask for stay.
My lawyers told me that if the judge sees that the stay would be injurious to me, he would not grant it. If not, it would be granted, and until they get it, whatever they are doing is just an act of lawlessness. The judgement stated that the governor, his aides or whosoever should not interfere in the discharge of my duty. Already they are interfering.
How do you intend to work in tensed atmosphere?
I can work in any atmosphere. I was the coordinator of Abacha Must Go campaign during the military era and I was able to coordinate and still passed my exams.
So, I am somebody who can multitask and still do very well. As the deputy governor of Edo State, the constitution defines my role and if I am a very loyal person and I try to work with the governor and he is not ready to work with me, I’ll do the work that the constitution asks me to do.
I only have four months to go and these four months will be very peaceful, and by the grace of God, I will be able to round off our programmes.
You are supporting the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC); have you left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?
I’m fighting for the sanity and sanctity of the office of the deputy governor of Edo State. I don’t want anybody to disrespect the office of the deputy governor of Edo State, just as I’ll not want anyone to do same on the office of the governor of Edo State.
Both offices are institutions. I’m defending the institution of the office of the deputy governor. I fought for democracy, so that people can express themselves freely and be able to choose who governs them and move freely without intimidation or harassment.
One of my cardinal goals is to strengthen the institutions. I’m seeing the institution of the office of the deputy governor being destroyed by the governor for personal gains and that is why I’m fighting to bring back the sanity of that office, not for my personal gain.
The governor has not paid me for the past one year and I know he is not going to pay me for the remaining four months. The other question, I’m not double dating. The governor wanted us to support Labour Party and even ask us to support its candidate during the last elections. The wife even told us that Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu never won the election.
So, he did anti-party and when I saw that he did antiparty and nothing happened, it means that I have the right now to follow suit. I support anyone I want to support. So, I’m supporting Senator Monday Okpebholo because we do need a home boy now to be our governor. We don’t need an outsider.
Don’t you see your support for the APC candidate as anti-party?
No, it’s not. The governor was in PDP and still in PDP but supporting Labour. So, what would you say to that? We were all in PDP and we are still PDP yet, he supported Labour Party’s candidate.
Is that now a practice for politicians to be supporting candidate outside their parties?
They say, follow your leader, so I’m following my leader.
What can be done to bring peace between you and the governor to avoid escalating crisis because election is coming?
It’s for the governor to show leadership and show empathy. He should remember we contested to bring law and order and sanity to the state.
He must remember we agreed to strengthen institutions, and that is why I have to fight even my father to make sure he wins his second term as governor.
That promise must be fulfilled. We must strengthen the institution because these institutions must be strong to live after u and we will benefit from strong institutions.
If we don’t strengthen institutions, we will also be victims of not helping the institutions. So, the institution of the office of the deputy governor must not be destroyed the way the governor wants do.
