A former deputy governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has declared support for the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Monday Okpebholo ahead of September 21 governorship election in Edo state.

BEYOND AFRICA reports that Shaibu was impeached by the Edo State House of Assembly.

This ended months of tussle between him and Governor Godwin Obaseki over the former’s move to contest the Edo Governorship election.

Shaibu declared his support for Okpebholo while speaking at the sidelines of the 2024 Father’s Day celebration at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

According to the former deputy governor, the governorship race started with three homeboys- himself, Okpebholo and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party.

He said, “I will support a homeboy, I came into politics to contest as the governor of Edo State because I need government to return to homeboy- people that understand our plight, people that understand what the people are feeling.

“Even the United Nations talk about the need for assessment. We don’t want outsiders, we have experimented, with outsiders and it’s not working, so this time around, we want homeboy.

“Today I came in as a homeboy, we have only two homeboys in the major political parties in Edo State. One is in labour, and one is in APC, and I choose to follow another homeboy in the APC.

“The man they are parading in the PDP is an outsider, and we have also agreed that no more godfatherism in Edo, so the man the PDP is trying to portray in Edo now is the godson of Obasek, and there is no way godsons will now be governor of Edo.”