... Deputies at War

relocation that evening, effectively cutting him off from his previously princely office in Government House.

Shaibu’s carefully calibrated defenestration is ongoing with some predicting the very thing he feared in the beginning: impeachment. If that happens, he stands to lose all the benefits and entitlements that should accrue to him as deputy governor for nearly eight years.

His current travails has elicited responses from politicians and political analysts in and outside Benin City, many of them laying the blame squarely at the doorstep of the deputy governor. Erstwhile governor of the state Adams Oshiomhole and now a senator recently publicly scuttled his former godson’s plan to defect to APC, (“APC is not a rehabilitation camp for losers,” Oshiomhole famously said.)

Onetime Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Oshiomhole but now Communications & Development Expert, Tony Iyare, weighed in on the matter with an opinion headlined “Edo: Shaibu’s Burden of Bearing His Cross” published in THISAGE of September 17.

“Who will save him from a self-inflicted conundrum?” Iyare began in his well-presented article and then went on to relate how rosy the relationship was between Obaseki and his deputy in the early days compared to the iciness between them now.

“It will be intriguing,” Iyare continued, “to see how Shaibu saunters through this debacle even after withdrawing the ill-advised suit against Obaseki and other principal officers from the court. He’s not only stripped of his larger than life image of a political dinosaur but now has to operate from a less fancied office from a precinct of Government House. In short, he’s now been made to devour the humble pie. Here was Shaibu who had a flowery leeway with Obaseki and was endowed with privileges and power that no Governor either in the history of Edo or the country has ever conferred on their deputy, yet he squandered it on the altar of pride, ego tripping, pigheadedness and inordinate ambition.”

As the case stands, Shaibu has since accepted his wrongdoing in the matter, on account of which he tendered an apology last week to his boss but after consulting with politicians and sundry advisers in Edo state. Meant to be a mea culpa, he said last week that “I am sorry, please forgive me,” directed at Obaseki for sure.

Despite the belated apology, some still question Shaibu’s sincerity, that he has not shown any remorse whatsoever, any act of wrongdoing by himself but that he was only apologising because he was advised to do so after wide consultations. Whether Obaseki will accept his deputy’s apology is another matter entirely.

Also seeking to appease his boss at the moment is Shaibu’s counterpart in Ondo state Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa equally facing charges of disloyalty to Governor Arakurin Rotimi Akeredolu who only recently returned to Nigeria after convalescing in a hospital in Germany for three months.

There was bound to be some friction between Aiyedatiwa and Akeredolu once the latter left the “Sunshine State” to attend to his health in Europe in June. Like Obaseki did with Shaibu, Akeredolu handpicked the current deputy in place of the impeached one. It has also been bandied around that Shaibu and Aiyedatiwa had plans to succeed their principals as governor come 2024. Not anymore!

For now, both deputies are fighting the toughest battles of their lives with no hope of winning. Headlines in newspapers all through last week and on social media point to a possible impeachment of the deputy governor of Ondo state.

Already, some of his media aides have since been relieved of their duties by Ondo State Government. Part of the reason for their sack is anti-Akeredolu campaign while he was recuperating in Germany. Thinking the governor might just not make it back to State House in Akure, they quickly pitched tent with Aiyedatiwa, urging him to look out for himself as a possible successor. Some were incautious in their campaign against the governor, leaving behind incriminating evidence on social media platforms.

Last week, Ondo State House of Assembly initiated proceedings to impeach Aiyedatiwa for “gross misconduct” though the lawmakers said the letter itself does not equate to impeachment. Chairman of the House Committee on Information Olatunji Oshati pointedly noted that “an allegation letter does not equate to an impeachment verdict.”

Continuing, Oshati let on that “the allegation letter served to the Deputy Governor marks the initiation of the impeachment proceedings…it is essential to remember that this is a procedure rooted in due process, not a hastily conducted impeachment.”

For governors once described by former President Olusegun Obasanjo as wielding power like emperors in their respective states, there is a predictable end in a duel with running mates. It is not hard to see why.

There is no clearly defined Constitutional role for the deputy governor thus making his office more or less a tagalong, “follow, follow” to the governor or, as one former deputy governor uncharitably put it, “spare tyre.”

But can anything be done to dignify the office of the deputy governor? Yes, says Senator Adegbenga Kaka of the APC. In an interview last week with The Punch, the former deputy governor to Olusegun Osoba of Ogun state suggested that “it may be necessary to give a definite role to deputy governors in the Constitution.”

More important to the politician is “mutual trust” which he considers the only way out.

“If as a governor, any party man, even an outsider, should come to badmouth their deputy, it is important for the governor or the deputy to reach out to one another, and possibly in the presence of the character so that they will know that the behaviour doesn’t pay. If some of them are disgraced, others will not engage in such a thing because the bottom line is what do they want to gain?”

On the current rift between Obaseki and Shaibu, Kaka says he is not surprised about it.

“I am not surprised at all because the two of them had a marriage of convenience and when it seemed they were not getting the ticket of the APC, in togetherness they moved to the PDP, forgetting that those who were in the PDP that gave them the platform might also have candidates as of that time and still have aspirants within their folks.”

Once political bedfellows in rain or shine braving the storms together from the onset in 2016 in Edo state, it is now clear the political ties binding Obaseki and Shaibu has since been severed with no hope of ever coming together anytime soon.

Once political bedfellows in rain or shine braving the storms together from the onset in 2016 in Edo state, it is now clear the political ties binding Obaseki and Shaibu has since been severed with no hope of ever coming together anytime soon