Edo APC, PDP continue war of words

Obaseki, Ize-Iyamu Outline Programmes

Women leaders of Edo State chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, continued their verbal war over comments credited to the wife of the APC governorship candidate, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki, about the export of females from the state overseas.

The wife of the APC governorship candidate had, in a newspaper interview, blamed the past administration of PDP in the state for the hardship that forced girls to engage in trafficking outside the country.

That report prompted Mrs. Evelyn Igbafe-Omokhodion of PDP to infer that Obaseki referred to Edo girls as prostitutes, while the APC state Women Leader, Mrs. Aisosa Amadasun, tried to explain at a press briefing that Obaseki was misunderstood by the PDP chieftain.

Meanwhile, the PDP governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has assured the people that if elected, he would promote bursary and scholarship to boost the education sector of the state.
  
Speaking at a campaign rally at Ekosodin, a satellite community, which serves as residence for thousands of University of Benin undergraduates and workers in Benin City; Ize-Iyamu said: “I was one of the beneficiaries of the Bursary scheme introduced by the Bendel State Governor, the late Professor Ambrose Folorunsho Alli, as an undergraduate in UNIBEN. The bursary helped our parents to a great extent in offsetting such expenses like books and our feeding.”
  
“Under the Simple Agenda of my government if by the grace of God you elect me as governor, I plan to pay all Edo students in higher institutions of learning bursaries. For those who are exceptionally brilliant we will give them scholarships to attain academic heights because they are a pride to our state. “

Also, the APC candidate for the September 28 governorship election, Godwin Obaseki, disclosed that Edo State needs a competent, credible and hardworking governor to efficiently manage the state’s resources and effectively execute people-oriented programmes.

Obaseki, who made the assertion during an interactive session with civil society organisations in Edo State, noted that with declining oil revenues and the consequent reduction in federal allocation to states, fresh ideas are needed in the running of government today.