Fight not over, as Obaseki slashes Dep. Gov’s budget for 2024
The personality clash between Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, does not seem to have ended, as it has been taken to another level.
This follows the slashing of budgetary allocation for Shaibu’s office by the State House of Assembly for 2024 to a paltry N345 million as against the Governor’s office which got N19 billion.
Shaibu’s allocation, according to findings, is even lower than that of office to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) which got N18 billion, the House of Assembly’s N13 billion and the Head of Service’ (HoS) whose allocation ran up to N968 million
Findings from past budgetary allocations to Shaibu’s office shows that in 2023, the allocation was N1.3 billion while that of 2022 was put at N1.4 billion.
The Edo State 2024 Appropriation bill was signed into law on Friday, December 15, and insiders believe the reduction in the allocation to Shaibu’s office may not be unconnected to his famous fallout with Obaseki over his ambition to run for governor of the state next year.
It was also gathered that some lawmakers believed to be loyal to Shaibu had vehemently opposed the decision of the Assembly to pass the budget as presented by the governor which they claimed was an “unfair appropriation” but were overwhelmed by the Speaker, Rt. Hon Blessing Agbebaku and others who are reportedly loyal to the governor.
