The Edo state house of assembly says it will use substituted service to serve Philip Shaibu, the deputy governor of the state, an impeachment notice.
On March 6, the assembly commenced impeachment proceedings against Shaibu and asked Yahaya Omogbai, the assembly clerk, to serve the deputy governor with the notice.
Charity Aiguobarueghian, majority leader of the house, said the petition against Shaibu was signed by 21 out of the 24 members of the assembly.
Speaking during plenary on Monday, Blessing Agbebaku, speaker of the house, said the deputy governor has refused to acknowledge the impeachment notice sent via personal service.
“Last week, there was an impeachment notice to be served on the deputy governor, Philip Shaibu,” he said.
“He was asked to be served and respond back to this house within seven days. The report that just got in by DHL is that he refused to acknowlege our service.
“By the powers vested in me by the members of this house, I hereby ask that the service be published on The Observer.
“The service should also be put on national dailies, not only on The Observer.”
After the Edo PDP primary election, Shaibu had said he had been receiving impeachment threats over his involvement in the poll.
In the past few months, there has been a rift between Shaibu and Obaseki.
On July 28, 2023, Shaibu approached a federal high court in Abuja with a suit to prevent an alleged impeachment plot against him.
He asked the court to restrain Obaseki, the speaker of the state assembly, and the chief judge, from “initiating impeachment proceedings or sanctioning any impeachment” against him.
On August 4, 2023, the court restrained Obaseki, the speaker, and other parties in the suit from initiating impeachment moves against Shaibu.
Reacting to the suit, Obaseki alleged that Shaibu wanted to kick him out of office “because of his desperation to succeed him”.
He also said there was no plan to impeach Shaibu.
On September 5, 2023, Shaibu withdrew the suit he filed against Obaseki.
