By Adesina Soyooye
A group of Edo All Progressives Congress (APC) members, under the auspices of Concerned Edo State APC Stakeholders have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to keep off the Governorship candidate of the Party, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, so as not to get stained, and rubbish his government.
In an open letter to the President, signed on behalf of the group by 10 members, the group said it was worried that the President, who came into office with a mission to fight corruption would think of receiving, in audience, somebody who is being prosecuted for corruption by his government.
Ize-Iyamu is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for alleged money laudering, to the tune of N700 million, during the 2015 Presidential elections. Ize-Iyamu was then of the PDP, and was its Governorship candidate. He has now defected to the APC, and picked the Governorship ticket. He is billed to appear again on October 15, before the Hon. Justice J.M. Umar, of the Federal High Court.
Said the group: “Ize-Iyamu who some persons are trying to smuggle into Mr President’s exalted office is beleaguered with an active corruption case brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for money laundering to the tune N700 million”
The group, therefore, warned those “within the corridors of power, pulling the strings to goad Mr President towards publicly receiving Ize-Iyamu and buy him political capital towards the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State.”
According to the group, there is a push by some people in the party to present the candidate to the President. If the candidate meets with the President, it would mean an endorsement by the President.
The group told Mr President that “identifying with Ize-Iyamu publicly, or in private, would send dangerous and mixed signals to millions of Nigerians and other nationals, who see you as incorruptible”
There are speculations that the alleged delay by Ize-Iyamu to launch his campaign is attributable to the reluctance of many APC governors to attend the ceremony.
They, allegedly, say they are embarrassed by his case before the EFFC, and the many terrible things former National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, said about him in 2016.
Many of them claim, they say, cannot stand Oshiomhole’s about-face now.
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai is speculated to have pulled out of the Campaign Council. But the Ize-Iyamu camp dismisses all the speculations as untrue and rubbish.
The Edo state Governorship election is slated for the 19th of September, 2020.
The main contestants are the incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki, and Ize-Iyamu.
