Reinstated deputy governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, on Sunday, said the fight against his impeachment is to protect the office of the deputy governors in the country which has been ridiculed since the return of democracy in 1999.
Shaibu, who stated this after a thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Benin, the state capital, said his victory is for democracy.
He said it was disheartening that some governors have continued to treat their deputy with disdain despite running on the same ticket.
Shaibu noted that there must be an effort by the National Assembly to enact laws that would protest the office of the deputy governor.
He said his reinstatement by the court is an act of God while calling on the government to investigate the killing of the police inspector on Thursday while exiting the Benin Airport with the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo.
He said, “My fight to be reinstated is for all the people occupying the office in the country. The office has been ridiculed since the return of democracy in 1999.
“I will continue to fight to make sure that sanity and respect are brought back to that office. All I am doing is not to earn anything but to make sure that the sanity of the office of the deputy governor is restored in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“What other deputy governors cannot fight against, I will fight on their behalf so that governors will start respecting that office.”
On his victory in the court, he said: “I challenged God, and I told Him that I want him to prove His power in my life, that people that are anti-God and anti-democracy are at it again, and they want to use me as a scapegoat, I told God to show to the world that I am truly his son.
“They said they will impeach me, and I will go to court and that by the time judgment will come, the tenure will have been over, I now challenged God to prove to them that they have touched His anointed and that the judgment will come faster, more than expected. I said I will need the judgment to come before the election.
“By the grace of God, democracy has come to stay, and we that fought for democracy will protect it; anti-democratic forces must be flushed out, and we will succeed.”
Shaibu also urged the youths in the state not to allow themselves to be used but should vote in the election to remove “anti-democratic people”.
He added, “This election is the time to change anti-democratic forces, and you must do it through the ballot. Don’t engage in violence, and I have been preaching this for the past year when the intimidation and harassment against me started.”
