Ahead of the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, a former deputy governor of the state, Philip Shaibu, has distanced himself from the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo.
According to Channels TV, Shaibu, who spoke on Sunday on the sidelines of the 2024 Father’s Day celebration at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Benin City, said he prefers to support a homeboy.
Shaibu, who was impeached by the Edo State House of Assembly a few months ago, claimed that the PDP candidate is an outsider.
The former deputy governor stated that the governorship race began with himself and two other homeboys – Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP).
He, however, declared his support for the APC candidate, warning that the victory of the PDP flagbearer would reintroduce godfatherism in Edo State.
He said, “Today, I came in as a homeboy. We have only two homeboys in the major political parties in Edo State. One is in Labour, and one is in APC, and I choose to follow another homeboy in the APC.
“The man they are parading in the PDP is an outsider, and we have also agreed that there is no more godfatherism in Edo.
“So, the man the PDP is trying to portray in Edo now is the godson of Obaseki, and there is no way a godson will now be governor of Edo.”
Edo guber: I’ll follow homeboy – Shaibu shuns PDP, declares support for opposition candidate