A combined picture of Philip Shuaibu and Godwin Obaseki
By Akeem Atoyebi
In a recent interview, the former deputy governor of Edo State, Philip Shuaibu said the former governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki duped him of the sum of $300,000 meant to oil the palm of some top PDP influential figures.
“When the issue of moving to PDP came and when there was this question about what will the PDP get, if we are given governor, why they should take deputy, for me at that time, I told him if deputy will be the issue, let it go. Let them bring deputy and you go. In so far as they give you the ticket, go ahead. I sacrificed it.
“For me, I was not in government for self-aggrandisement. I am a team player. Anything that will make the team function, any team that I belong; I can sacrifice everything to keep that team working. That is how I was brought up. Anything that I am in, for the benefit of the team, I am ready to make sacrifice to make the team functional. For me, it was not about me, it was about our team and he (the governor) was the leader. For me, give him the ticket, we will follow. Even if I didn’t get it, I was ready to give it. Ask the people that were in our team. Some of them said ah, Oga, why you go talk like that? I said no, let them give him the ticket. If they give him the ticket, fine. So, it was not about whether he begged for me to be deputy. No, it was about me saying I am ready to even sacrifice it in so far as they give him the ticket. And I said it to many of the leaders. I said, let him take. I contributed money. I contributed $300,000. He ( the governor) collected $300,000 from me to say he was going to add to $700,000 to go and lobby them in Port Harcourt. But we later found out from the zonal PDP Chairman that he never gave them any money. So, he even duped me (general laughter). And it took me like seven months to be able to pay back that money where I collected it from. I was paying instalmentally to be able to pay that money. That was why I had to raise alarm because I was paying for money that they said was not used. And this money was not returned back. Till today, he didn’t return the money back. You can ask Chief Dan Orbih and Ogbeide-Ihama. I am calling names now.
