Edo PDP primary, am not afraid of intimidation – Philip Shaibu

…asks party to give him ticket if desirous of retaining power

By Tunde Opalana

Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu has send warnings to powers that may want to suppress his governorship ambition that he is not afraid of intimidation .

Shaibu, a strong contender for this year’s Edo State governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said he is immune to political persecution because he had suffered intimidation and harassment in the past.

The deputy governor who was at the Abuja PDP secretariat on Thursday to return his nomination forms told members of the National Working Committee (NWC) that he should be given the governorship ticket if the PDP want to win the election and retain power after the tenure of the incumbent , Godwin Obaseki.

Well at home with the accolade ‘home boy’, Shaibu admonished party leaders not to allow PDP and Edo State at large to be hijacked by “businessmen”, but to ensure that power resides with the people of the state.

He said “we started the journey of rescuing Edo state in 2006 and we were conscious of what we wanted to achieve. We said that we needed to take our state back and return it to the people and we did take the state back and returned it to the people. Along the line, something happened and the state is about to be hijacked again and we said no.

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“This election is another challenge. They want to take the state from Edo people and return it to businessmen and we are saying no because Edo State cannot return to Egypt. Edo State will continually move forward and the only way it can move forward is if power resides with the people. PDP says Power to the People not power to business friends or business colleagues.”

Talking about his past experiences in the party, he said “I will tell the leadership of PDP that some of us have been harassed. I have received a lot of intimidation but unfortunately for me, it is like a cross that God has asked me to carry. All my life has been a life of harassment and intimidation but in all the intimidations, I have always come out successful.

“This PDP primary is also going to be the same because now, they are buying people. They have bought all the elders but they have not been able to buy the youths. All the elders they have bought, except the elders that have the youths in mind. This is another challenge. It will get to a time when the money they are using to buy those guys, they will bring some of the money to me and I will use some of them to campaign so that PDP will win.

“I am not looking ruffled because I know the result from the beginning. When I will win an election, I know. When I am not intimidated, that means that that election will not be successful. The intimidation and harassment show the character of my victory. When you don’t intimidate me, I don’t win an election.

“By the grace of God, our support is organic, it is not procured. I am not an aspirant that is being pushed, I am not an aspirant that is cut off from the people, Edo people, the voters know me, they touch me, they feel me.

“I am contesting for governor today, not because Philip Shaibu has inordinate ambition but my ambition is to save Edo state from businessmen that now want to take over the state. We have already dealt with the issue of godfatherism but it is rearing its ugly head again. I am happy that the governor had told us that even if he is tries to bring somebody as a godfather that we should deal with him.

“We are standing on the mandate of the people. My support is organic and with Philip Shaibu, PDP will retain its seat in Edo state.

“If you give me this ticket, from the day I am announced as the PDP candidate, Labour Party, APC, YPP, SDP, they will all move PDP, there will be mass movement of people coming into our party.”

Shaibu promised to turn the state around if given the opportunity to serve as he already have the document of the Blueprint of what he want to do in Edo State.

“I have set up a committee already on what we are going to do. I understand the feeling of the people. We already have our plans on what we are going to do.

“Edo state now has mid-term election and as the governor of the state, if you are a new comer or an outsider, before you understand what to do, you are already one year in office and as you are entering the next year, you are already preparing for election. So if you don’t have the knowledge to understand how governance in Edo state works, no experience, you will just forget about the original plans you have.

“I have been in the legislative house for 8 years and not just a passing member, I was the majority leader of the House back to back and I was chairman rules and business in the government house. For eight years now, I have been the deputy governor”, he said.

Responding on behalf of the NWC, the Deputy National Organizing Secretary, Hon. Pascal Adigwe called for peaceful conduct by Shaibu and other aspirants while promising all a level play ground by PDP leadership to ensure that a better aspirant emerge as the party’s flag bearer.

Adigwe said “Your Excellency, you have done well, we have your records, we know you as we know others. It is our hope and belief that in this race, you will run it well. We are only begging, let there be peace. Let us go into the primary’s and ultimately the election, putting peace in front. You know that we are not scared of the other side of peace but please let us go peacefully.

“Secondly, let us consider the wishes of the people we want to govern, how do they want to be governed and we can craft our aspirations and ambitions around what the people wants.

“Thirdly extra commitment, extra unity of purpose, extra struggle cannot be over emphasized. So we are begging, hold our party strong.

“You are not new in contesting election, we are not new in encountering you so you know what to do and you know that in the elections that you have contested in the past, you have always won, meaning that someone has also always lost and the person didn’t die. So, elections can be won or lost depending on how God wants it. All I am asking is, you win you stay, you lose you stay.”