By DADA AYOKHAI
There is celebration in the camp of the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, and his loyalists over the apology rendered by Omobayo Marvellous in lieu of conviction for contempt of court.
Omobayo had disobeyed a court order to vacate office after the court declared his appointment as illegal following the impeachment of Shaibu by the Edo State House of Assembly.
In an apology letter and affidavit published in national dailies, Omobayo renounced the title of Deputy Governor.
It will be recalled that the Edo State House of Assembly, then led by Rt. Hon. Blessing Agbebaku during the administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki, impeached Philip Shaibu and replaced him with Marvellous Omobayo, who hails from Akoko-Edo, same senatorial district as Shaibu.
Dissatisfied, Shaibu approached the Federal High Court in Abuja for redress. The court quashed the impeachment and directed Omobayo to vacate the office.
The Agbebaku-led Assembly, however, appealed the judgement, while Shaibu filed contempt proceedings against Omobayo for failing to obey the court order.
The matter was finally laid to rest following Omobayo’s public apology and renunciation of the title.
Meanwhile, those familiar with Edo political history recalled how former Governor Adams Oshiomhole, after his victory at the tribunal and Court of Appeal against Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, went to town to claim that Osunbor was never a governor in the eyes of the law.
Oshiomhole reportedly removed Osunbor’s photographs from Government House and all government offices and also expunged his name from the list of former governors entitled to emoluments.
However, immediately Osunbor supported Oshiomhole’s second term bid, the music changed and Oshiomhole began to refer to him as former governor.
Shaibu, then as Majority Leader of the Edo House of Assembly, led the amendment to the law to recognise Osunbor as a former governor of Edo State.
According to lawyers, in the eyes of the law, Omobayo may not be a former deputy governor, but by history, he is a former deputy governor, in the same class as Ernest Shonekan as former President, even though his government was declared illegal.
