Former Edo Deputy Gov, Shuaibu talks tough, gives reasons why he won’t return government vehicles

The former Deputy Governor of Edo state, Philip Shaibu, who was impeached on the ground of divulging state secrets to the public, has given reasons why he won’t be returning the government-issued official vehicles.

The estranged former state number two man, said the law of the country is defective in the way it allows governors to treat their deputies the way they like.

He said he had forwarded a proposal to the National Assembly to address the matter.

Shaibu spent his last days in an office outside the state government secretariat, and he chose not to stay at the designated Deputy Governor’s residence.

He disclosed that he intentionally did that to avoid the public embarrassment of being evicted, as he had foreseen that the fragile relationship between him and Governor Godwin Obaseki would eventually collapse

Shaibu explained that he would not return the government vehicles in his custody because of many reasons.

The ousted Deputy Governor revealed that for almost eight years in office, he had only been given one official car. He said the others he had with him were not functioning optimally when he had them, but he used his funds to change their engines.

He said: “The vehicles they are referring to are the two Prado SUVs used by Lucky Imasuen as the Deputy Governor. The other Hilux was the one Dr Pius Odubu’s wife used, and the Land Cruiser was the one Odubu used. I took all those vehicles to the mechanic who changed their engines and refurbished them. Those are the vehicles that they are telling me to return.