The ongoing rift between Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and his recently reinstated deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, shows no signs of easing as Shaibu launched fresh criticism against the governor. Shaibu accused Obaseki of being disconnected from the needs and feelings of the Edo people.
During a brief interaction with journalists at the 2nd Plenary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in Auchi, Shaibu shared his concerns about leadership in the country.
He emphasized the importance of leaders remaining humble and serving the people, echoing the sentiments of Rev. Fr. Gabriel Dunia, who preached about the dangers of leaders acting as “lords” over their people instead of fulfilling their roles as servants of the people, as ordained by God.
Shaibu also took the opportunity to call on religious leaders to be more cautious when bestowing honorary titles on political leaders. He warned that religious figures should ensure those titles are genuinely deserved, based on the leader’s actions and dedication to serving the people.
Shaibu said “All of us whether Christians or Muslims when we are saddled with authority, it is expected that we hold that office on behalf of the people and allow God’s doctrine to be our guide. For me as a Catholic, I am always conscious not to disgrace the church or Christianity and my family, we need to imbibe the culture of God in our offices and if we do that, the issue of corruption will be a thing of the past, empathy will be there, there will not be a governor that will be called a wicked governor but we will have governors that will do the will of the people.
“In Edo state, we have a governor but he should not use the office as a tool to be wicked to the people, a tool to annex our collective responsibility as if it is a personal responsibility.
“God says we should love our neigbhours as ourselves, we should not be wicked. For instance how can one go and take late Captain Hosa Okunbor’s land, a dead man, you will go and take his land, how do you show empathy in that?
“For our Christian leaders, they should not be in a hurry to give names to our leaders, they said our governor is God’s Servant Governor. I think CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) should withdraw that name because he is not God’s Servant Governor. A God’s Servant Governor will have empathy to the people, a God’s Servant Governor must do the will of the people, a God’s Servant Governor must do all the promises that he made, if he cannot meet them, he should go back to the people and say this is why I cannot meet those promises, a God Servant Governor must not take our collective wealth and reduce it to private use, so for me, Christians leaders should be careful in giving our leaders names that they don’t deserve.”
