On Shaba’s Spurious Claims and Unfounded Allegations Against Ize-Iyamu
By Victor Ofure OSEHOBO
A few weeks ago, one Mr Adams Ehigiamusor popularly called Shaba made several spurious claims about the APC candidate in the September 2020 Edo governorship election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. Today he has just re-echoed them knowing fully well that his allegations are a bunch of sponsored falsehood designed with no good objective in mind.
Mr Shaba had vowed that, “I will never be happy with Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu”. This is not a surprise. While this is a personal decision he is entitled to, let it also be stated that Ize-Iyamu has nothing personal with Mr Shaba. As a preacher, he does not harbour any grudge against anyone, whether within or outside the APC, as the greater good of the majority remains his primary objective of being in politics and the APC for that matter.
In one of his many claims he said that Ize-Iyamu pledged the sum of N200million to his union and since the election one year ago he was awaiting its redemption. He however failed to say where, when, how and why Ize-Iyamu made him such a promise. Pastor Ize-Iyamu has said and for the umpteenth time that he never had such a deal with Shaba.
He alleged before the very successful and crisis-free congresses to elect local government executives of the party nationwide, that Ize-Iyamu was trying to hijack the party in Edo State. He even had the crude temerity to even warn the National Secretariat of the APC, demanding it to urgently call Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu to order, or as he claimed, ‘APC will be dead in Edo State’.
While it is disheartening that an ordinary party member who does not understand the modus operandi of a progressive party can threaten the National Secretariat of the ruling party of a country like Nigeria, Ize-Iyamu has also said he has no plans to hijack any party and as such calling him to order as Shaba is demanding is primitive, weird and uncalled for.
Ize-Iyamu has never been a ward, local government, state or national official of the APC. Till date he has not been delegated to head any of the committees set up by the National Secretariat, to oversee any of the two congresses which the party has held successfully, so far across the country. He was not appointed to even supervise any of the exercise in Edo state.
At no time in the past also did Ize-Iyamu meet with officials on such serious party assignments to speak about hijacking the party. He never made them any promise, before or during the ward or local government congresses and certainly has no plans to do so before or during the forthcoming State Congress of the party.
Ize-Iyamu did not also put any of them in a particular hotel as Shaba would want the world to believe. It is therefore pure lies for anyone to accuse him in this regard.
Ironically, Shaba is the arrowhead of a plot by his financiers to deceive members of the party in the state, create disaffection and kill the party as he desires. What he also knows is that this is one mission doomed to fail because the party in the state is greater than one individual. His financiers also know too well that since the last election, the APC in Edo has become more united and focussed. And this trend will continue without any distraction.
