An organized breach of protocol that seems to have altered the formal sitting arrangement, set the State governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Mr Philip Shaibu apart on Sunday, August 27, 2023 at the Festival Hall, Benin City.
The deputy governor, was forced to eat a humble pie after an operative of the Department of the State Security (DSS), restrained him from sitting beside his principal.
When the embattled deputy governor walked into the venue for the event, he was shocked to discover that the Chief Judge of Edo State, Justice Iyobosa Okungbowa had sat at the seat supposedly belonging to the deputy governor in the other of protocol.
It was learnt that the CJ, clutched onto the seat which was beside the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Blessing Agbebaku, alongside Governor Obaseki and his wife, Mrs Betsy Obaseki.
Shaibu was said to have muttered; having observed the reversed sitting arrangement, but the Governor feigned sham when a male DSS operative, politely stood in front of depressed Shaibu who held brochure in his hands.
But, he beat retreat and thereafter confined himself to the popular section in the hall where he struggled to catch a glimpse of the event.
The deputy governor, has however vowed to show a great measure of resilience in his 2024 governorship ambition along with his loyalty to his boss.
Shaibu who recently returned from his trip abroad, denied any rift with Obaseki, bristles at questions about questions by journalists who sought to know why he was denied access to Obaseki.
He said this in relation to his alleged impeachment plot in which an Abuja federal high court, had restrained the Governor and his privies and agents including the State House of Assembly for removing him from office, pending the determination of the suit.
Prior to that, Governor Obaseki and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Blessing Agbebaku, had repeatedly denied any plot to impeach the deputy governor whom the former had accused of betrayal.
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