Some support groups of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Etsako West Local Council of Edo State, yesterday, protested against alleged plans by the former Deputy Governor of the state, Philip Shaibu, to stage a return to the party.
The protesters, in their hundreds, marched through the streets of Auchi, terminating their march at the secretariat of the party, in Auchi, where they submitted a communique containing their resolution.
The spokesperson for the protesters and a former Chairman of Etsako West Council, Yakubu Musa, who read the communiqué, insisted that they would resist any attempt by Shaibu to return to the party. He argued that since Shaibu left the party in 2020, he had not been able to win any election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), adding that his return would not add value to the party.
The group also criticised Shaibu for his alleged role in the 2019 Edo House of Assembly crisis, where 14 elected lawmakers were not sworn in as members of the House.
The communiqué reads in parts: “Without doubt, the pains, sorrow and anguish Shaibu inflicted on our party and the G-14 candidates, who contested and won the 2019 general election to represent their respective constituencies in the Edo State House of Assembly, are still very fresh and unhealed.
“This is because APC and the direct victims are yet to recover from Shaibu’s inglorious midnight inauguration of the Assembly, and his subsequent evil machinations, which have made Edo State a laughing stock on matters relating to state legislature.
“Shaibu made history as the mastermind of an onslaught that prevented our elected Assembly members from being sworn in, thereby denying their respective constituencies any form of representation for a full tenure of four years.
“We call on the National Leader of APC, President Bola Tinubu, not to listen to the plan of mischief, as orchestrated by Shaibu. He has no service to render in the party, and there is no vacancy for him in the Edo APC.”
They made a similar appeal to the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, and also to the Senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, not to allow Shiabu’s overtures to return to the party.
In his reaction to the protests, Shaibu’s media aide, Musa Ebomhiana, said that those protesting were sponsored, and did not have any role to play in the return of Shaibu.
