The rift between the Governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Rt. Hon Philip Shaibu became messier on Monday as Shaibu was denied access to his office in the government house.
The Deputy Governor who was not expecting the latest action from the Governor side was told that it was the directive above.
The Network gathered that Shuaibu arrived the government House on Monday morning but met the gate leading to his office locked.
The embattled deputy governor said he is yet to receive a formal letter from the governor’s office which he described as the proper means to transmit a directive concerning the relocation to a new office.
“Up till now, I don’t have any official communication that I should relocate. The only people that have official communication are my civil servants. The civil servants have official communication but I don’t.
“As I am speaking to you now, I am standing by the gate,” he said while on a phone call to a yet-to-be-identified person.
Last week, a letter which was said to have been sent from the office of the Head of Service, Anthony Okungbowa, was sent to the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Deputy Governor directing Shuaibu to relocate to a new office situated at No 7, Dennis Osadebey Avenue, GRA, Benin City.
A source told the Network that the new office is an abandoned complex in need of renovation
As the crisis between the two top politicians linger, there have been speculations about moves to impeach Shaibu, which the Edo Assembly has denied.
The altercation between the deputy governor and security operatives in government house created some tension that led to security operatives at the government house to ignore anybody who could not properly identify himself or herself.
The altercation started around 8:am when Shaibu accompanied by some of his personal aides and security details drove into government house only to meet the entrance gate to house office locked
An eye witness with the deputy governor said “The gate to the office of the Deputy Governor and the main entrance leading to the story building was locked with chains and heavy padlocks.
“Shaibu and his aides waited for about an hour and left.”
It was gathered that Shaibumade frantic calls trying to reach the Governor without success.
He was said to have had some discussions with the state Commissioner of Police and the State Director of State Security Services, DSS to alert them of how he was locked out from his office.
The embattled Deputy Governor was
said to have inquired from the Government House Camp Commandant identified as Ibrahim Babatunde, a Superintendent of Police on why he was locked out of his office.
It was learnt that Babatunde politely told him that the directive came from higher authorities which the CSO of Government House, Williams Wabba would be in a better position to explain.
Meanwhile there are unconfirmed reports that the deputy governor defied entreaties from security operatives to attempt to force himself into the governor’s office even when he was told that the governor was not around.
The crisis between the two came to the a head when Shaibu instituted a suit at the federal high court in Abuja requesting that the court stop a purported plan to stop him from functioning in office as the deputy governor of the state, denying him attendance of exco meetings and then impeaching him.
However, Shiabu decided to withdraw the suit citing intervention by traditional and religious leaders particularly the Catholic Archbishop of Benin, Archbishop Augustine Akubeze.