Due to the conflict that becomes a sour grape after their term, deputy governors of state in Nigeria rarely have happy endings with their superiors.
Although things may go smoothly for their governors and their deputies at first, either excessive desires or problems from the fifth columnists may cause the crisis that will lead to many things falling apart, including trust and loyalty.
And when loyalty is gone, trust is broken, the once-loyal deputies will be left to fend for themselves in the succession battles against their incumbent governors.
Lagos
In 1999, then Lagos State Governor, now President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had his fair share of the governor-deputy supremacy battle that finally led to the removal of his deputies, Kofo Bucknor-Akerele and Femi Pedro.
Akwa Ibom
There was also a repeated episode of the ugly scene in Akwa Ibom State of the then governor, Victor Attah, and his deputy, Chris Ekpenyong.
Ekpenyong cheated the impeachment move because the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, intervened, and it was reversed by the state house of assembly.
This brings to mind the recent political brouhaha between Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, as well as the Cold War between former Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and his deputy, Chief Edward Onoja, at the tail end of the life span of their administrations.
What function does the deputy governor serve in the state government?
According to the Nigerian constitution:
“In the event of a death, resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity, or removal of the governor from office for any other reason under sections 188 or 189 of this constitution, the Deputy Governor of the State shall assume the office of Governor of the State.
“Where any vacancy occurs in the circumstances mentioned in subsection (1) of this section during a period when the office of Deputy Governor of the State is also vacant, the Speaker of the House of Assembly of the State shall hold the office of Governor of the State for not more than three months, during which there shall be an election of a new Governor of the State who shall hold office for the unexpired term of office of the last holder of the office.
(3) Where the office of the Deputy Governor becomes vacant –
(a) because of death, resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or removal by section 188 or 189 of this Constitution;
(b) by his assumption of the office of Governor of a State by subsection (1) of this section; or
(c) for any other reason, the Governor shall nominate and with the approval of the House of Assembly of the State, appoint a new Deputy Governor.”
The constitution does not however permit the governor to hand over powers to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, except in rare cases where there is no deputy governor in the state.
On the contrary, we have witnessed in some circumstances in the recent past where governors were handing over powers to the speaker instead of their deputy when going on leave.
Edo
In 2015, after spending eight years at the Edo state House of Assembly, Philip Shaibu contested and won the Etsako Federal constituency House of Representatives seat to beat his closest rival with a poll of 42,079 votes against Abbas Braimah of the Peoples Democratic party who polled 29,941 votes to clinch the representative seat.
- Obaseki and Oshiomole
When Governor Obaseki later fell out with his god-father, Oshiomole, (following irreconcilable differences) Shaibu stood firmly for Obaseki as an experienced political warlord against his one-time benefactor.
Although Oshiomole was a leader, yet he did not have political capacity like Shaibu, who had tested many different legislative political ladders.
The war consumed Oshiomole and Obaseki won the second term.
- Philip Shaibu
The jubilant Shaibu thought that by defeating his close associate and uncle for Obaseki, he had already won the succession battle for the 2024 governorship in Edo state, but was proved wrong by his principal, Governor Obaseki.
Shaibu’s ambition and Governor Obaseki’s body language are no longer going the same way since two years ago when the latter discovered that the former could not be tamed to surrender his bid to succeed him.
- Shaibu and Ighodalo
The cat and mice fight finally came to an end last week when Obaseki nailed Shaibu’s political coffin in a tense, but dramatic governorship primary that produced the governor’s favourite candidate, Asue Ighodalo.
Like a drowning man in the early morning on the day of the primary election, while other aspirants and their supporters were filing into the designated venue for the primary, Shaibu, the embattled deputy who had already been declared winner by a faction as the governorship candidate of PDP in the Edo State, seems tamed!
In what looks like a spoil for war, Shaibu warned the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, never to make the mistake of recognizing Ighodalo as he claimed to be the authentic candidate, adding that he shall pursue his candidature to ensure it stands.
Kogi
The issue was not different in Kogi State as well, as former governor Yahaya Bello during last year’s governorship primaries, enacted his supremacy over his deputy, Edward Onoja, as he threw him under the bus to pick the incumbent governor, Usman Dodo, against the expectation of the people of the state and the supporters of Edward David Onoja.
Onoja was alleged to be instrumental in the emergence of Bello as governor of the state.
- Onoja and Achuba
Onoja was said to have tasted a bitter pill throughout his stay in office as a deputy governor.
Before he assumed the office of the deputy governor of the state, he had served as the chief of staff to the governor.
Onoja now has stepped into the shoes of Chief Simon Achuba who was removed from office over alleged power tussle between him and Bello.
Achuba, a well-known political leader from kogi East was made a deputy to Yahaya Bello amid tension in the state following the death of Prince Abubakar Audu, the acclaimed winner of the governorship poll in the state who died hours before his declaration.
Achuba, who was a former deputy speaker of the State House of Assembly, was impeached as deputy governor a few months before the end of former governor Yahaya Bello’s first term, paving the way for Edward Onoja to take over.
The question on the lips of Nigerians now is would peace ever return to the states over the battle for succession between governors and their deputies?
