Edo 2024: Shaibu, Airhievbere Formally Declare Interest

Edo State Deputy Governor, Mr. Philip Shaibu, has finally decided to run for the governorship of the state despite opposition to his aspiration by Governor Godwin Obaseki. The formal declaration has been scheduled for next week in Benin City.
Shaibu has been consulting and meeting with politicians and the media on his governorship aspiration for several months now, including Governor Obaseki.
An aide to Shaibu who did not want his name mentioned said, “If everything works according to his plans, he will officially declare his intention next week.
“He has already secured a campaign office along Airport Road. Some of the campaign vehicles have started arriving and the consultations have reached an advanced stage.”
Meanwhile, a former gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2012, Major-General Charles Arhiavbere has declared that there is no more zoning in the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Arhiavbere who is now with APC stated this in Benin City while declaring his intention to run for governor.
He said at a meeting with members of the Oredo Ward 1 at his residence in Government Reservation Area (GRA) in Benin City, that he had always insisted that Edo State is the melting pot of Nigeria because it is the heartbeat of the nation. “So how can the heartbeat be in another party and then you still say it is the heartbeat?
“We must trust the government at the federal level and we must key-in, that is why we are restating that bringing this state to the APC government is a task that must be done and that is one of the reasons I have decided to throw my cap into the ring and to make sure that we rescue this state.
“We hear people saying there should be zoning, you can only zone what you have, if you don’t have a daughter, you cannot give out a daughter into marriage. That is why APC must present the best and the best is standing before you.”
Airhievbere who said he has been supporting candidates of the APC since 2016, added “that is why when I decided to come out, I told Edo people that it is the turn of GC (General Charles).”
The State Youth Leader of the APC, Mr. Tony Kabaka said the state needs a governor that would protect and respect the sanctity of the Benin monarch.
Swear New Judges, Activist Tells Obaseki
A human rights activist and President of the One Love Foundation, Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor, has called on Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State to without delay inaugurate the new judges recently cleared by the National Judicial Council (NJC).
Eholor said the constitutional requirements for the appointment of the judges had been fulfilled and it would b unnecessary and distracting for the governor to be foot dragging on their swearing-in.
“The appointment of judges is a creation of the Constitution and not the whims and caprices of a governor.
“Governor Godwin Obaseki should not repeat the night inauguration of members of the Edo State House of Assembly in June, 2019. I hope he will not swear in some judges at night this time.”
He said, “the time to entertain petitions are over. Governor Godwin Obaseki cannot send a petition to the National Judicial Council(NJC), when he is the one that by law is expected to swear in the judges in Edo State.
“He should allow all the judges to be sworn in and leave the one male or female judge he does not want sworn in. They have all been cleared and recommended. It is God that gives power.”