Philip Shaibu, deputy governor, Edo State, has denied giving $300,000 to Governor Godwin Obaseki to hand over to Dan Orbih, the south-south national vice chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as part of funds to settle for the governorship ticket.
Orbih had in a viral video claimed that Obaseki allegedly demanded $300,000 from his deputy, Philip Shaibu, to make up funds to settle Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama who stepped down for him (Obaseki) to contest the Edo State governorship election in 2020.
“Shaibu told me that Governor Obaseki demanded $300,000 from him to make up funds to settle Ogbeide-Ihama for the governorship ticket which he gave his boss (Obaseki), only to discover that no penny was given to Ogbeide-Ihama neither did he demand a dime for stepping down”, Orbih had earlier stated.
But, Shaibu, in a statement on Friday, described the allegation as false, saying that such a transaction didn’t take place.
“It has come to my attention that the national vice chairman, south-south of the PDP, Chief Dan Osi Orbih, has made an absolutely false allegation purporting that I had given the Governor of Edo State, His Excellency Godwin Obaseki, $300,000 to hand over to Orbih as part of some sort of political settlement regarding the Edo State chapter of the PDP.
“Nothing can be farther from the truth. I want to state without equivocation that no such transaction ever occurred. It even betrays reasons that I, as deputy governor, would have to send the state governor, my boss, on an errand to hand money to a party leader. It is an aberration of the highest proportion that deserves no contemplation.
“I, therefore, condemn the rumour in its entirety and urge that the insinuations be disregarded as it has no basis,” Shaibu said.
