Edo APC rejects Iriase, insists he remains sacked from party

Obaseki Seeks End To Female Genital Mutilation
The Owan East Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State has disowned the former Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Pally Iriase, noting that the ex-house member has been expelled from the party by his ward and has no legal authority to speak on its behalf.

Addressing journalists in Benin City, the party members insisted that Hon. Iriase, who was sacked since 2019, remains expelled from the party and therefore lacks the locus standi to question the activities of the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki on behalf of the APC.

According to Hon. Sufianu Igbafe, a former Chairman, Owan East LGA, Iriase is an impostor, with a clear intention of creating crisis within the party.

Igbafe, who was Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, to former Governor Adams Oshiomhole, said, “Iriase is no longer a member of the APC; he does not have the right to speak on behalf of the APC; he should speak from his party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I challenge him to show us the project he embarked on in the past eight years as a member of the House of Representatives across any of the 22 wards in Owan East LGA, which should be placed side by side with the constituency funds he received since he became a house member.

“He was duly expelled from the party by the people of his ward in Owan East LGA, Otuo. I have a supporting document to that effect; he was expelled from his ward 9, where he came from and his expulsion was properly documented. The letter covering all the process of his expulsion from his ward, LGA, to the national level, are evidence to prove that he is no longer a member of the APC since 2019.”

Meanwhile, the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has identified basic education as an effective instrument in tackling female genital mutilation, noting that his administration will not relent in increasing access for girl-child education in the state.

Governor Obaseki said this in commemoration of International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, a United Nations-sponsored annual awareness day, as part of efforts to eradicate the global menace.