Bribery Allegation: Shaibu denies $300,000 offer to Obaseki

Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu on Friday, introduced a new twist to the $300,000 bribery allegation rocking the Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He denied telling the National Vice Chairman of the party, South-South, Chief Dan Orbih, that Governor Godwin Obaseki collected a huge amount of money to add up the bribe allegedly paid to the PDP officials to clear Obaseki and himself to contest the 2020 governorship election under the PDP.

Chief Orbih, in a video that has gone viral, alleged that Shaibu told him that Governor Obaseki collected the sum of $300,000 from him (Shaibu) as part of the money to be paid to Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, the leading governorship aspirant in the PDP in the buildup to the 2020 gubernatorial election, to step down for Obaseki, when the latter was chased out of his former party, the All Progressive Congress (APC).

In the video, which was recorded when Orbih held his annual Edo PDP Christmas/New Year Party at his Country Home in Ogbona, Etsako Central Local Government Area of the State, the PDP chieftain said: “Shaibu told me that Governor Obaseki demanded $300,000 from him to make up funds to settle Hon. Ogbeide-Ihama for the governorship ticket which he gave his boss, Governor Obaseki, only to discover that no Penny was given to Hon. Ogbeide-Ihama neither did he demand a dime for stepping down”.

Orbih added that during the reconciliation anchored by Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, he pointedly asked Governor Obaseki to confirm if he gave money to anybody to allow him to join the party or contest for governorship and he (Obaseki) said no.

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“Now the truth is revealed for Edo people to be the Judge ahead of 2023 general elections,” Chief Orbih added.

But reacting to the allegation, the Edo State deputy governor said that the claim was spurious, as he never told Orbih anything of such, adding that it was unthinkable that he would send his boss on an errand.

The text of the statement personally signed by Shaibu reads:

“It has come to my attention that the National Vice Chairman, South-South of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Osi Orbih, has made an absolutely false allegation purporting that I had given the Governor of Edo State, His Excellency, Mr Godwin Obaseki, the sum of $300,000 to hand over to Orbih as part of some sort of political settlement regarding the Edo State chapter of the PDP.

“Nothing can be farther from the truth.

“I want to state without equivocation that no such transaction ever occurred.

“It even betrays reasons that I, as Deputy Governor, would have to send the State Governor, my boss, on an errand to hand money to a party leader.

“It is an aberration of the highest proportion that deserves no contemplation.

“I, therefore, condemn the rumour in its entirety and urge that the insinuations be disregarded as it has no basis in facts.”