Letter approving Shaibu’s office relocation surfaces

As a letter to that effect, signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie, surfaced on Tuesday morning, the drama surrounding the transfer of Edo State deputy governor, comrade Philip Shaibu’s office outside the government house may have come to an end.

When he was locked out on Monday, Shaibu had denied knowing about the change in location of his office and noted that he had not received a letter ordering him to vacate the government house property for another site.

The troubled deputy governor added that only government employees were given written instructions to relocate to the new location.

According to the letter from Ogie to the deputy governor, Governor Godwin Obaseki has ordered the Shaibu to move to the new office address.

A Permanent Secretary in the deputy governor’s office received the letter, dated September 15, 2023, and acknowledged it on September 18, 2023, a Monday.

“Relocation of Office Accommodation” is the subject of the message, which begins: “I write to notify you that His Excellency, the Governor, has approved the relocation of your office accommodations to No. 7, Dennis Osadebey Avenue, G.R.A., Benin City.

Therefore, please make sure that your compliance is in line with Mr. Governor’s permission.

Shaibu and his principal, Governor Godwin Obaseki, had a falling out when the deputy governor filed a lawsuit in an Abuja Federal High Court earlier in August, asking for the court’s protection from the governor’s alleged plot to impeach him using the Edo State House of Assembly and others.

The deputy governor’s media team was quickly disbanded by the governor in response to the lawsuit, and his office was relocated from the main Government House.

Three weeks prior, some prominent state residents from the political and religious spheres had intervened, forcing Shaibu to drop the lawsuit from court.

Any optimism that the disagreement would be settled was dashed on Monday when Shaibu was unable to enter the building because the gate to his office was closed.