Philip Shaibu, the former deputy governor of Edo State, has announced his support for Monday Okpebholo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, in the upcoming governorship election scheduled for September 21 in Edo State.

Shaibu mentioned that the governorship contest initially featured three local candidates: himself, Okpebholo, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP).

“I will support a homeboy, I came into politics to contest as the governor of Edo State because I need government to return to homeboy – people that understand our plight, people that understand what the people are feeling. Even the United Nations talks about the need for assessment. We don’t want outsiders; we have experimented with outsiders, and it’s not working, so this time around, we want homeboy,” he said, according to Channel TV.

The former deputy governor made these remarks during the 2024 Father’s Day celebration at Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Benin City, the capital of Edo State.

Shaibu emphasised that after exiting the race, he is now supporting his preferred candidate from the local area of Okpebholo.

He mentioned that Edo governor Godwin Obaseki has affirmed that everyone is free to support any candidate in elections, which is why Shaibu has openly endorsed the APC governorship candidate despite being a member of the PDP.

He clarified that his endorsement of the opposition is not an act of disloyalty to his party, noting that even Governor Obaseki had partial affiliations with both the PDP and the Labour Party in the last election.

“The governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, says that everybody has the right to support whoever he wants to support, but he forgot also that he doesn’t have the right to stop anybody from whom he wants to support,” he said.

“But I take one part from what he said: we all have the right to support whom we want to support, so it’s my right to decide who I want to support,” he said.

South Africa’s parliament has re-elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the country’s president following a historic coalition deal between the governing African National Congress (ANC) and opposition parties.

The new government comprises Ramaphosa’s ANC, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is the main opposition, and smaller parties.

The ANC lost its controlling majority in last month’s election after ruling for 30 years since the end of apartheid.

Out of 400 seats in the national assembly, the ruling party was only able to secure 159, the country’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.

The DA had 87 seats, while the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, backed by former President Jacob Zuma, won 58.

After the election, Ramaphosa said it was clear that citizens expect their leaders to “work together” to meet their needs.

Following two weeks of intensive talks with opposition parties, the decision to re-elect Ramaphosa was reached on Friday.

In his victory speech, the president hailed the new coalition and urged the party members to prioritise South Africans.

John Steenhuisen, leader of the DA, said he was looking forward to working on “serving the people of the country and building a better future”.

“I think we get an opportunity today to write a new chapter for South Africa and that chapter I think we can make the best chapter ever. No party has got a majority. We are required to work together and we are re going to do it,” he added.

Ramaphosa is expected to include members of the other parties in his cabinet.

Salihu Lukman, a former vice-chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the north-west, has resigned as a member of the ruling party.

Last year, Lukman resigned from his position as a member of the national working committee (NWC) of the APC.

He said, “the party is completely at variance with the founding vision of forming a progressive party”.

Before this, he had also resigned as the director-general of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) in 2022.

In a statement on Wednesday, Lukman said his membership in the APC has been rendered useless.

He noted that his decision was based on the lack of internal democracy and the inability of the leadership of the APC to allow reforms within the party.

“Given all this, it is possible to remain in APC if, at all, President Tinubu will allow internal reform in the party to return it to its founding vision, which, as it is, is very remote. But my reality now in the party is that my membership has been rendered useless, and there is no need for me to continue to impose myself,” the statement reads.

“I have therefore gone back to the trenches and will try to work with all committed Nigerians who agree and subscribe to the goal of actively campaigning for the survival and development of democracy in Nigeria.

“We must grow our democracy to the point whereby elected representatives at all levels are accountable to the party, and it is possible for Nigerians represented by various interests to develop strong relationships with political parties and elected governments based on which policies of governments can be made to reflect the wider interests of Nigerians.

“I am confident that a strong democracy with functional political parties is possible in Nigeria. I am also confident that, in our lifetime, we can produce governments that are truly capable of making the lives of Nigerians better. I don’t expect party leaders will agree with my decision. I believe that eventually, we will be united will all party leaders and other Nigerians who are committed to developing Nigerian democracy.”