Edo government disbands Shaibu’s media crew, says walkout was stage-managed

The Edo government has disbanded the media crew attached to Philip Shaibu, deputy governor of the state.

Earlier on Monday, Shaibu staged a walk-out at an event in Edo state after his aides, including security operatives, were denied entry.

The deputy governor was allowed into the venue of the 60th anniversary of the Midwest referendum organised by the state government but his entourage was stopped from gaining access to the event.

In a statement, Chris Nehikhare, commissioner of information, said the state government has directed that Shaibu should henceforth make a request to the ministry of information for media coverage of activities of his office.

Nehikhare said the directive was due to the “ugly and unfortunate” incident during the colloquium organised to celebrate the Midwest referendum.

The commissioner said the “orchestrated and stage-managed walkout” of Shaibu and his aides at the event was “highly regrettable”.

He alleged that the journalists who claimed to be part of Shaibu’s media crew “attempted to force their way into the hall” of the event.

“This act was contrary to the accreditation protocol that had been established for media coverage of the event,” he said.

Over the past few weeks, Godwin Obaseki, the governor of Edo and Shaibu have been at loggerheads over issues pertaining to the alleged impeachment plot against the deputy governor.

In July, Shaibu approached a federal high court in Abuja with a suit to prevent the plot.

However, Obaseki and Blessing Agbebaku, speaker of the Edo house of assembly, denied the alleged impeachment plot.

On Saturday, Shaibu described Obaseki as his “elder brother”, while pledging his loyalty to the governor