By Bilyaminu Gambo Konkol
Recent reports indicated that the Presidency had on August 8, 2020, through Garba Shehu,Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity in a response to defend APC corrupt candidate in Edo, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu called on PDP to sack its governors and senators.
Garba Shehu opined that PDP should first withdraw the governorship nominations it gave to Ahmadu Fintiri and Bala Mohammed of Adamawa and Bauchi States respectively before it opens its mouth and talk on the efforts of the Buhari administration in fighting corruption. Or else, it should shut its mouth forever and leave APC to do what it dares not attempt.
The statement from the presidency is a clear indication that the party has no genuine evidence to prove that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is not corrupt and it failed to understand that defending incompetency is a difficult task.
It is surprising that APC and its members are trying to defend a person whom they called with different names during 2016 governorship campaign in Edo state. It could be recalled that the immediate past national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole in a ten minutes video uploaded on Youtube by ChannelsTV described Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as a corrupt person.
In the video, Adams Oshiomhole explained that Ize-Iyamu was unable to cast his vote during 14 April 2007 governorship election because he was hiding from EFCC. He also narrated that, despite the fact that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu served as his campaign’s director-general, he hadn’t appointed into any position after winning the election because Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu cannot be trusted.
According to Adams Oshiomhole, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu who held different positions during Lucky Igbinedion’s tenure had done more harm than good to Edo state to the extent that Lucky Igbinedion’s mother slapped him for misleading her son.
It is astonishing that APC is now trying to convince Nigerians that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is fit for the governorship seat in Edo State.
However, to some extent, it seems not surprising because APC has become a complete hideout for corrupt persons. It is no longer news that anyone who is in APC is a saint and those in other parties are seen as sinners by the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Therefore, the APC led government instead of distracting Governor Bala Muhammad who is focused on providing dividends of democracy to his people, should live above board and prosecute its looters.
Bilyaminu Gambo Kong-kol,
Mass Communication Department, Bayero University, Kano
bilyaminugambokonkol20@gmail.com
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Sky Daily
