By Akinwale Kasali
The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption PACAC, Professor Itse Sagay, SAN, has denied being the Chairman of the committee set up by the University of Benin, UNIBEN, to investigate the acid-throwing incident involving Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the September 19 governorship election which resulted in his expulsion from the University of Benin.
It will be recalled that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, sacked National Chairman of the APC, in a viral video, had alleged in 2016, that Ize-Iyamu, was during his University days at UNIBEN, a cultist.
At the time of the allegation, Ize-Iyamu was the Governorship candidate of the PDP.
Oshiomhole had further said the University raised a panel, chaired by Sagay to investigate the incident.
“Pastor Ize-Iyamu poured acid on a student’s private part in UNIBEN. Prof Sagay chaired the Committee set up by the University to investigate the matter, and the Committee found him guilty and expelled him. That’s why Ize-Iyamu doesn’t have a certificate,” Oshiomhole had said.
Sagay has just said that Oshiomhole lied. Je denies chairing such a Committee. He says he couldn’t recollect the incident, and that Oshiomhole may have mistaken him for someone else. He said he couldn’t remember any committee of that nature till he left as Dean of the Law Faculty in October 1986.
While saying he can’t deny whether the incident happened or not, Sagay however, admitted that Ize-Iyamu was one of his students but was still in school when he left as the Dean of the faculty.
In his words “The truth of the matter is I have no knowledge of what Oshiomhole is talking about. I won’t go as far as saying that Oshiomhole was telling a lie, but I’m telling you I cannot remember that occasion he talked about. I hope he is not confusing me with another Dean. I stopped being Dean of the Faculty of Law in October 1986. So, it could have been somebody else.
“Ize-Iyamu was in the University of Benin when I was there; he was one of my students, but I left before he finally graduated. So, I don’t remember the incident. I’m not denying it, but I don’t remember.
“Normally in such an important meeting where a student is being tried for something of that major nature, I should be able to remember. But I don’t remember at all. I cannot endorse it whilst I don’t deny it because I know I have a poor memory.
Yet, a number of people wonder why Sagay did not deny Oshiomhole’s allegation in 2016. “Sagay is a politician. When Ize-Iyamu was in the PDP, it was convenient for him to keep silent. His silence validated Oshiomhole’s claims then. Now that Ize-Iyamu is in APC, he is denying the claim. Sagay should shut-up. He has not behaved like a statesman in this particular incident”, said an angry Edo politician who pleaded anonymity.
On the governorship election, he also admonished the candidates and political parties to eschew violence and maintain a civilised approach to issues.
“They should ensure that they campaign peacefully. It is not a do –or-die affair. At the end of the day, people should still survive at the end of the election. The bitterness has been too much. People have shown that they are ready to go to any extreme without any limitation to do any injury to the other side.
“So, they should maintain peace and civilised approach to politics. They should campaign peacefully and allow the people of Edo decide who they want as their governor,” he said.
