The Federal High Court, Abuja reinstated Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, on Saturday, July 20, 2024, officially defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Shaibu, alongside other members of the PDP legacy coalition group, announced their defection in Benin, the Edo State capital, at the inauguration of the National Campaign Council of the party for the Sept. 21 Governorship election in the state.
National Chairman of the APC, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, led other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Party to receive Philip Shaibu, who is presently at loggerheads with Governor Godwin Obaseki over his return to his position as the deputy governor.
While declaring his return to the APC, Shaibu said he and members of his group are returning to the Party to add value to it, stressing that the opposition party in the State will certainly take over the state after the governorship poll.
Shaibu was equally warmly embraced by the former governor of the State, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, whom the embattled deputy governor said is his father.
Trouble started for Shaibu in the PDP when he showed interest in the governorship seat which later culminated into uncontrolled political intrigues and squabbles in the party that eventually led to Shaibu and the PDP Legacy group defecting to the APC.
Shaibu was impeached as deputy governor on March 18, 2024 by the Edo State House of Assembly.
However, a Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, quashed the impeachment and held that the offence upon which he was removed did not amount to misconduct.
It is now not certain how Philip Shaibu would fit into the Governor Obaseki-led administration again particularly against the backdrop of his defection to another party.
