Some unidentified persons were seriously injured after a shooting incident on Thursday afternoon as Edo State APC Governorship candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo and the reinstated Edo Deputy Governor, Rt Hon Phillip Shaibi, were leaving Benin Airport on arrival from Abuja.
The incident occurred just after 2 p.m. when the candidate and several others, including the Deputy Governor of the state, Mr. Philip Shaibu, were arrived aboard a chartered private jet.
Unknown suspected gunmen had in Sienna vehicle at the exit gate opened fire at the convoy of leading Okpebholo and Shaibu which led to a reprisal gunshot by armed security details attached to the APC candidate and Deputy governor Phillip Shaibu.
The shots, audible inside the Airport Arrival Hall and along Airport Road near the Miracle Centre of the Church of God Mission, caused widespread panic. Businesses closed, and drivers abandoned their vehicles in a rush to escape.
It took the intervention of the Mobile Squad of the Nigeria Police to bring the situation under control. Meanwhile, several officers continued shooting to dispersed the said attackers as they flee in a Toyota Sienna bus
The shooting occurred just one day after a Federal Court ordered the Inspector General of Police to restore the security detail of Philip Shaibu as Deputy Governor of Edo State, following the nullification of his impeachment.
Meanwhile, the deputy governor’s office, Marvellous Omobayo office located at Osadebey’s avenue in the Government Reservation Area was take by members of the Edo Security Network on Thursday morning.
It was, however, not clear whether Marvellous Omobayo, who was appointed by Governor Godwin Obaseki to take over from Shaibu, was in the office at the time the ESSN men took over his office.
Shaibu who was received by large numbers of youth had instructed the crowd to join the convoy to government before the violent clash at the airport gate.
Hon. Justice J. K. Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in a judgement on Wednesday set aside the impeachment of the State’s former deputy governor.
The State Assembly has also had appealed the ruling and filed a stay of execution on the judgement pending appeal.
Shaibu fell out with Governor Godwin Obaseki over his ambition to succeed his boss. Despite Obaseki having his preferred candidate, Asue Ighodalo, Shaibu and nine other contested against Ighodalo, who eventually picked the ticket.
After that, the Edo State House of Assembly, had on Monday, April 8, 2024, impeached Shaibu following the adoption of the report of the seven-man investigative panel set up by the State Chief Judge to probe allegations of misconduct against the former deputy governor.
The investigative panel set up the EDHA was headed by Justice S.A. Omonua (retd.) and probed Shaibu on allegations of perjury and leaking of government secrets, ending its sittings with the former deputy governor refusing to appear before it.
Shaibu was impeached by the vote of 18 out of 19 members of the Assembly present at plenary, while one abstained from the headcount and voting process.
Recall that the State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, had upon the impeachment of Shaibu picked Marvellous Omobayo as his deputy to complete his second tenure in office, which ends on November 11, 2024.
