Veteran publisher Dele Momodu believes the impeachment of Philip Shaibu as the deputy governor of Edo State is a bad signal for the country’s democracy.
The Edo State House of Assembly on Monday impeached Shaibu on the grounds of an alleged leaking of government secrets after months of intrigues, claims, counterclaims, and bickering between him and Governor Godwin Obaseki.
A new deputy governor Omobayo Godwins was immediately sworn in at the Government House in Benin City, the state’s capital.
The development does not, however, sit well with Momodu who claims the move further lays credence to the belief that deputy governors and vice presidents are mere appendages to their principals.
“You see, democracy in Nigeria has not fully grown and developed. Democracy in Nigeria today is a game of the winner takes it all,” the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant said Tuesday when he was featured on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“The governor is always the boss. The president is always the boss and that is why you will see that we have had these kinds of squabbles in the past whether at the presidential level or the gubernatorial level.”
Momodu insisted that “Our democracy needs a lot of fine-tuning so that we can avoid these problems”.
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‘No Smoke Without Fire’
Shaibu had accused Obaseki of targeting him owing to the former’s governorship ambitions, and Momodu believes the impeachment was a fallout of some issues between the former allies.
“They say there is no smoke without fire. Nothing is impossible also in politics but I wish him well,” he said.
