Former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu, has admitted that his loyalty to ex-Governor Godwin Obaseki was excessive, describing it as a misguided effort to ensure the success of the administration.
In an interview with Sunday Sun, Shaibu, who previously served as President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), explained that his actions while in office were driven by principle rather than personal gain or ambition.
The former member of the House of Representatives acknowledged that even when his relationship with Obaseki became strained, he chose to remain steadfast in his support. He revealed that despite being denied certain entitlements of his office, he continued to back Obaseki’s re-election campaign.
Philip Shaibu said: “What people see outside is different from what is inside. You see, it is like a marriage. It is either the wife makes it work or the husband makes it work. One has to be a fool for a relationship to be able to flourish. So, in Obaseki’s government, I was the fool. I made myself a fool in his government to make the thing work. Because immediately Comrade told me during that budget saga that I don’t have a say, I am subject to what Obaseki says, at that level, I told myself, okay, no problem, I will be a fool for this man. But I will come out not to be a fool at the end of the day. So, I started planning myself from that day. I said, well, I will make sure loyalty will be 100 per cent, I will be foolishly loyal. I told myself that I will be foolishly loyal. And truly, I was foolishly loyal because of what was said from day one. So, at the end of the day, everybody said ah, Philip is loyal, Philip is loyal. I was actually loyal, foolishly loyal. And when I say loyal, loyal, and I mean it.
“This is my house. There is no one thing in eight years that I bought extra in this house. No one thing that I would say is a new thing that I bought in this house since I became deputy governor. That was how foolish I was. I was limited to my overhead and salaries, nothing more. And that is why the committee of the new governor has completed their assignment. You won’t see my name in any transaction in government or my proxy in any transaction in government. I purposely stayed away from any financial transaction apart from my overhead and salary in government. That was how foolish I was to the extent that even my official vehicle, I didn’t have an official vehicle. The car I used for three years, first three years as deputy governor, was the car that I bought with my car loan as a member of House of Reps. The Land Cruiser that had the flag with the crest of deputy governor was the one I bought when I was a member of House of Reps. I bought an armoured Land Cruiser because I had to be travelling by road to my constituency from there. That car was just six months old when I became deputy governor. So, when the government was not buying vehicles and everything, I had to ask them to take the car from Abuja here to Benin and they put the flag and put the… nobody knew. Then the car my security was using, it was the car that both Imasuen and Odubu’s wives used. The lady mechanic is alive, I had to go and tow them, she came to the Deputy Governor’s lodge and towed those vehicles to her workshop and fixed them. Some of them, we had to change engine and gear box; some of them, we had to cut the head and put another head. She was able to use her skill to bring them back to life, to keep the convoy of the Deputy Governor. And that was how the Hiluxes I used, two of them, the ones I already abandoned that I used as a Majority Leader, we had to go and buy engine for two of them, fix them, then the one I was using in the House of Reps, I bought another one when we were campaigning. Those four were the Hilux vehicles I used in my first term as the Deputy Governor of Edo State.
“So, in the midst of that, I still supported him to come back because for me, I believe he was entitled to second term. And I didn’t want anything to distort the flow – Edo North just got eight years, a Benin man coming would now want to…, so on principle, I did what I did. If it was based on materialism, I should have been on Oshiomhole’s side to have my pound of flesh for not even allowing me to access my entitlements.
“In my eight years, I never accessed medical allowance. I never accessed furniture allowance, I never accessed even the 22 days or 28 days they call it, first term and second term, I never enjoyed it. In eight years, both my family and I, none of us. Thank God for good health. None of us accessed any medical… And these are constitutional rights, it is not privilege. It is supposed to be part of my earnings, but I told you, I was living in my house, I was not living in Government House. In Benin, I stayed in my house for eight years.”
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