Edo State Deputy Governor Rt.Hon Comrade Philip Shaibu yesterday said the report of his planned defection to the All Progressive Congress (APC) is a lie from the pit of hell.
Shaibu, who is currently at loggerheads with the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, had approached a Federal High Court in Abuja and obtained a restraining order against a suspected plan to impeach him by the state House of Assembly.
The embattled deputy governor response came after a viral report that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC has finalised plans to receive him into the party next week.
But Shaibu, in a statement by his chief press secretary (CPS) Musa Ebomhiana said the said report is the handiwork of mischief makers bent on widening the gulf between the deputy and governor.
According to Ebomhiana, “Hack writers are at it again. Mischief makers bent on destabilising our dear Edo State are still at work. They will stop at nothing to widen the gulf between Mr Governor, His Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki and his Deputy, Rt Hon Comrade Philip Shaibu. They have generated more lies from the pit of hell, saying that Rt Hon Comrade Philip Shaibu has perfected plans to rejoin the All Progressives Congress, (APC) next week. There is no iota of truth in this.
“To further put a lie to this, the spin doctors claimed that the APC National Working Committee (NWC) is set to receive him in Abuja. The question here for the discerning minds is that, is it the NWC of a party that receives a decampee into the party? Shaibu has never minced words, vowing to sink and swim with his principal, Governor Godwin Obaseki.
“This, he has said severally at public fora. In view of this, I plead with these characters bent on driving a wedge between Comrade Philip Shaibu and his boss, Governor Godwin Obaseki to put the Edo project and the people far above their own selfish interest,” the statement added.