There is nothing Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State will not do to strangulate his deputy, Hon. Philip Shaibu over the latter’s decision to contest the 2024 governorship election in the state.

The crisis between the two has shifted to the 2024 budget of the state with the office of the deputy governor receiving a paltry N300 million as compared to billions received in the past. The amount represents a significant drop from the N650 million allocated to the office of the deputy governor in the second quarter of 2022.

Shaibu had also recently complained that he has not received his salary and allocation to his office for about six months.

The 2024 budget was signed into law on December 15, 2023. It was gathered that some lawmakers believed to be loyal to the deputy governor opposed the decision of the members of the assembly to pass the budget as presented by the governor which they said was an “unfair appropriation” but that they were overwhelmed by the Speaker, Hon Blessing Agbebaku and others.

A peep into the budget as passed showed that the sum of N19,148,177,584 was approved for the governor while the deputy governor was allocated the sum of N345,522,729. The office of the Secretary to State Government (SSG) had N8, 847,647,676, the office of the Head of Service (HoS) N968,000,000 while the House of Assembly had the sum of N13,074,500,000.

A politician, who is close to the governor said the camp of the governor has taken a vow to strangulate Shaibu financially in a bid to frustrate his governorship aspiration.

A principal member of the Edo State House of Assembly while explaining the slash of the deputy governor’s budget for 2024 said: “The sum allocated to the office of the deputy governor is not small. The deputy governor is contesting elections and you know what it takes to contest; he will have no time for official duties, so the governor decided that since he will not do those official work, you cannot allocate such money to the office.”

However, most observers believe that the slash in the allocation to the deputy governor’s office was because of his ambition to succeed his boss as governor of Edo State. (THISDAY)

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