Office of Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt Hon Comrade Philip Shaibu, on Monday, started movement out of the Government House, Benin City, following Governor Godwin Obaseki’s direction that the office be relocated and moved out of Government House.
The directive is contained in a letter said to be from the office of Head of Service, Anthony Okungbowa, Esq, to the Permanent Secretary, office of The Deputy Governor. It is said that the Deputy Governor is yet to receive an official communication to that effect. The office is located at No 7, Dennis Osadebey Avenue, GRA, Benin City.
The development is coming despite the withdrawal of the suit Shaibu filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the Governor, Speaker of the State House of Assembly and some security agencies to stop his alleged impeachment.
Number 7, Osadebey Avenue is an old, abandoned and dilapidated building which was formerly used by the State Procurement Agency.
Following the withdrawal of the suit filed by the Deputy Governor based on interventions by well-meaning Nigerians, observers expected that the feud was over! However, the Governor was said to have insisted that the Monday deadline set for the relocation stands, even as renovation work was ongoing in the water-logged new office.
On Monday, civil servants in the Office of the Deputy Governor started moving out of the Government House to beat the deadline out of fear of not complying with the directive of the Governor.
It is instructive to note that the new office is inhabitable and unsuitable for a work environment and demeaning for a state Number Two citizen. Even a Commissioner or Permanent Secretary cannot be in the office said to have been marked out for the Deputy Governor in the new place.
Aside from the small office space, three or four Senior civil/ public servants are said to be sharing an office space. From available information, the office is said to be without a functional generator and is not linked to Ossiomo Power Generation. The premises are without interlock or, hence the water log. Workers are left to walk on the muddy ground to access their offices.