Edo State Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu has said he will defeat Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, former national chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and ex-governor of the state in his ward on September 19.

Shaibu, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin yesterday, said this was not because he was “one superstar”, but because he was connected with the people.

He noted that he does not do money politics, or uses money for election or bribe people for election, but does “organic” politics, which is building relationship with people.

He said he believed in being the messenger of the people, carrying the dividend of democracy to the people.

Shaibu told NAN that not only would he and the PDP defeat the former APC national chairman in his ward, but would also win the entire six local government areas in Edo North Senatorial District.

He said he will win the district with a very wide margin.

Said he: “Edo North Senatorial District will be the easiest to win, because the political structure of the place is in our hands.

Shaibu said he introduced the former national chairman of the APC to politics and organised his first ever political meeting that brought him in.

“I introduced Comrade Oshiomhole to politics. I organised his first ever political meeting that brought him in.

“I was in politics before he, I won my election in 2003, without going to court.

“But he came through the court, and I was already a member of the Edo House of Assembly 18 months before he became a governor.”

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Shaibu said his loyalty to the PDP candidate, Governor Godwin Obaseki, remained unshaken.

He noted that this was because as the deputy governor, his interest was the development of the state.

He added that the governor was already developing the state in many ways and he would follow and stand with him to the last.

Shaibu stressed that he would continue to fight on the side of any government that would make poverty a history in the state.

He noted that he was not just loyal to the governor, but to a vision that the governor, himself and even the former governor had shared.

Shaibu noted that Oshiomhole started the vision, which was the vision for development, moving the state forward as well as turning it from a civil service state to an industrial state and a business hub of the nation.

He said although the former governor of the state was pushed forward to be the leader of that vision, regrettably, he was the only one who had pulled out of that shared vision.

“But the governor came with a promise to take that vision to the next level and he has done that.

“For instance, Oshiomhole built red roofs, but Obaseki put content into the red roofs, that is why we now have the EdoBest, because red roofs without content is zero,” he said.

He said if God has sustained the vision to move the state forward, he would remain loyal to the governor.

He added: “It was the same loyalty I gave to the former national chairman of the APC, when he came to rescue the state and said the people must lead.

“That is because I am constant and that constant thing in me is supporting any government that will sustain democracy, and will make the state move forward.

“That means wealth will be redistributed, and poverty will be history.”