Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Edo State chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party (LP) are locked in a confrontation over alleged heavy bribes from Governor Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the qualifications of the APC governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
At a news conference by its governorship candidate, Isaiah Osifo, in Benin yesterday, the LP called on the Edo electorate not to vote for the APC candidate during the September 19 governorship election because he lacked the credibility and moral right to take part in the poll.
The party also issued a three-day ultimatum to the Council of Legal Education to come out clean on the propriety or otherwise of the admission of Ize-Iyamu, a lawyer, into the Nigerian Law School and his subsequent call to bar.
It said: “If within three days the Council of Legal Education fails, neglects or refuses to offer the explanation, LP will activate the process of getting the information, using the provisions in the Freedom of Information Act.
“Edo people are morally conscious of and they should enjoy the right to free choice. Edo people cannot be fooled. Enough is enough.
“We are aware of an action filed by a lawyer, asking the court to disqualify the APC’s governorship candidate in Edo State on account of his failure to inform the management of the Nigerian Law School that he was rusticated for two years for his alleged engagement is secret cult activities.
“There is an ongoing criminal prosecution against Ize-Iyamu over money laundering. It is sad to note that a person facing interrogation from a legal action filed by a lawyer over secret cult-related activities while he was a student at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), in addition to his ongoing criminal trial on financial matters, is the same person seeking to occupy the exalted office of governor of Edo State.
“Where is the good politics in the decision of APC to sponsor Ize-Iyamu as its Edo State governorship candidate? Where is the morality in the ambition of Ize-Iyamu?
“LP is aware of the civility of issue-based electioneering. It is important for the public to know and appreciate that the character and antecedents of the candidate are the most important issues to be considered in electoral choice. The character and antecedents of the candidate are the social tools for measuring the expectation of any aspiring government.
“Neither Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (former National Chairman of APC/ex-governor of Edo State) nor Ize-Iyamu is willing to refer to the antecedents and character of Edo APC’s governorship candidate.
“Edo State’s electorate should avoid, detest and reject the candidate that is in a continuous avoidance of his past records. Any candidate that is not proud of his/her past records is not fit to be the governor of Edo State.”
LP also urged the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Mohammadu Buhari, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other agencies responsible for the conduct of elections in Nigeria to be on the side of Edo residents by ensuring the conduct of a peaceful, free, fair and credible election next Saturday.
Edo APC, through the Chairman of its Media Campaign Council, Prince John Mayaki, however, accused leaders of LP of receiving heavy bribes from Obaseki to level the frivolous, senseless and baseless allegations against the party (APC), Ize-Iyamu and Oshiomhole.
It noted that the heavy bribes were meant to divert attention from PDPs failings and the incompetence of Obaseki.
Edo APC declared that it was aware of the collaboration involving PDP, LP, Allied Peoples Movement (APM), National Rescue Movement (NRM) and Action Democratic Party (ADP) because of the bribes the state governor paid them.
It said: “Today (yesterday), LP proved our reports right when it released a statement touching on the image of Pastor Ize-Iyamu.
“We earlier warned that Obaseki has plans to rig the election by paying heavy sums of money to submit a doctored list of party agents belonging to these parties. LP came out at a news conference by one fellow of unclear morals, Isaiah Osifo, stating that Pastor Ize-Iyamu and APC are not options for next Saturday’s election.
“In a base manner, they levelled many baseless allegations against our governorship candidate and somehow forgot to tie it to the fact that some PDP members such as its former Edo Chairman, Dan Orbih, who is now the party’s Southsouth zonal Chairman, and PDP’s current Edo Chairman, Dr. Tony Aziegbeni, were also suspected for the same issue.
“Let it be known that PDP has tried the same tactic, failed and given up. It therefore chose to use the rather unknown LP to make the claims.
“LP is so weak that the average person in Edo State does not know who their candidate is. The party (LP) has not bothered to campaign, but its leaders are happy to collect peanuts from Obaseki to fulfil his sinister dream, which will not work.
“This is a complete diversion from the campaign to rescue Edo State from the excessively desperate and autocratic Obaseki and his cohorts.
“We have undertaken to snatch Edo State from the jaws of political vipers, leeches and tax collectors, but Osifo and some other turncoats have decided to lend their voices to the desperado where men of character and nobility unanimously vowed to rescue the state from undemocratic elements.
“This is clearly what the school of psychology teaches as the Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim of an unjust act or crime begins to develop trust and affection for his aggressor.
“Look at how the party (LP) grovels before Obaseki after he gave them a little bit of the money he forcibly took from them, their wives, mothers, fathers and children.”
APC in Edo also urged residents of the state to desist from succumbing to the whims and caprices of a governor (Obaseki) who had robbed them continually for four years and was planning to win them back by giving them fractions of what was rightfully theirs
