Factional Edo APC trade blame over Oshiomhole’s ordeal

•‘Ize-Iyamu not a member of APC’, Edo govt
The All Progressive Congress’s (APC) leaders and supporters in Edo State loyal to the national chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday, restated their unflinching support for the Oshiomhole-led national leadership of the party. While reacting to the court ruling, a Chieftain of the party and governorship aspirant in the state, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu alongside other loyalists of Oshiomhole, including former Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice in the state, Mr. Henry Idahagbon, said no amount of harassment and intimidation would deter their resolve to continue to back Oshiomhole’s leadership of the party.

Justice Danlami Senchi of the FCT High Court in Abuja had on Wednesday suspended Adams Oshiomhole as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) pending the determination of the substantive suit seeking his perpetual removal as the APC chairman.

Ize-Iyamu, who frowned at the purported jubilation by some party leaders, said it was unfair and unfortunate to see some persons claiming to be APC members jubilating over the court ruling announcing the suspension of the national chairman of the party.

He said, “Rather than promoting the interest of Edo people, some persons are working against the interest of Edo people and in jubilation over Oshiomhole’s alleged suspension by the court. What we find shameful was to see Edo State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, jubilating and singing at the King’s Square celebrating the court ruling which suspend the APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole. These saboteurs in our midst must be identified, no matter the position they hold and must be sanctioned.”

Ize-Iyamu expressed confidence in the leadership of APC’s national chairman, added that the contributions of Oshiomhole are unprecedented in the history of the party both in Edo State and at the national level. He said Oshiomhole is highly appreciated by all and sundry, including the party’s members and leaders in Edo State and vowed to continue to support his leadership.

While describing Oshiomhole is an asset to APC in Edo and the country at large, Ize-Iyamu noted that the party’s leaders in the state would resist any attempt to malign or drag the name of the national chairman of APC to the mud. He expressed dismay at politicians jubilating in the state over the court ruling saying the, “People of Edo State stand solidly behind the national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole. No matter how you look at it, the court order remains interim. That order has been appealed.

“I was ashamed to see the Governor of Edo State elected on the platform of the APC rejoicing that an eminent son of the state and a former governor of the state was suspended by the court. He was seen in jubilation and singing all over Benin City that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has been removed as national chairman of the APC.

“We want to ask if the removal of Adams Oshiomhole would guarantee Governor Obaseki a second term ticket. For me, it is ridiculous to even imagine that if the national chairman was to be removed automatically, does that make his second term guaranteed?”

Ize-Iyamu said the party’s members in the state would continue to hold political rallies since the governor had commenced rallying after he earlier banned all forms of rally in any part of the state.

“Sometime ago, the state government announced that it has banned rallies in the state. The funny thing is that the same rallies he banned, in the past one week, the governor has flouted the law. He has held a rally in Irrua, and yesterday again, he held another at Urhokpota Hall in Oredo Local Government Area in Benin City.

“The governor cannot be holding rallies and telling others not to hold rallies. So we want to put him on notice that we would continue to hold rallies for as long as he doesn’t obey laws put in place by himself.”

Meanwhile, Special Adviser to Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, has charged Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu to stop dabbling into the affairs of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State since he is not a registered member of the party at any level. Osagie, in a statement, stressed that Ize-Iyamu had no grounds to comment on any issue bordering on APC in Edo State because he was not a member of the party.

According to him, “Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is not a member of APC in Edo State. He has no grounds whatsoever to comment on the affairs of the party in the state. Just as we have seen with the case of the suspended National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who was suspended from his ward, an action upon which the FCT High Court judgment was based, you can only become a member of the party from the ward level.

“Ize-Iyamu is not a member of the party at the ward level. He attempted to join the party from Abuja, which is not the right way to becoming a member of the party. So, he is not known at the ward level.”