Ize-Iyamu appears in court today over alleged N700m fraud

The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the September 19, 2020 governorship election in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is to appear in court today in a case preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He is being tried on an eight-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N700 million reportedly deployed to prosecute the 2015 general elections.

Ize-Iyamu, who recently defected to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is standing trial alongside four others before Justice J. M. Umar of the Federal High Court, Benin City.

The anti-graft agency, in the suit marked FHC/BE21C/ 2016, said the gubernatorial hopeful and the other accused allegedly collected the public funds for the polls, contrary to the provisions of the EFCC Act and the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.

A group, Concerned Citizens of Edo State, had last week charged youths in the state to meticulously follow the trial, saying: “We call on Edo youths to be aware that Pastor Ize-Iyamu would be standing trial for an N700 million money laundering case preferred against him and four others by the EFCC. The case comes up in court on July 2, 2020.”