Edo 2024: I’ve No Rift With Oshiomhole – Ize-Iyamu

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – With the All Progressives Congress (APC) scheduling its primary for the Edo State governorship election for February 17, 2024, one of the aspirants, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has dismissed rumours of a rift with the former National Chairman of the ruling party, Senator Adams Oshiomhole.

Already, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed September 21 for the Edo State gubernatorial polls and Pastor Ize-Iyamu said he is not only on good terms with the former Governor but also fully set for the contest.

Describing their relationship as cordial, Ize-Iyamu, who appeared on the Channels Television programme, Politics Today said; “I will tell you categorically that we are on good terms. There is no quarrel between myself and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

“We have worked closely throughout the party formation to begin to quarrel unnecessarily. The fact that we disagree does not mean that there is a problem. He has a strong personality, I also have that. So we are bound to disagree”.

Ahead of the February 17 APC’s governorship primaries, reports in the media space had indicated that Ize-Iyamu, who lost to Governor Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 2020 election, has been disqualified from the primary by a screening committee allegedly constituted by Comrade Oshiomhole.

Debunking the claims of being disqualified by the so-called Screening Committee, he confirmed being very much in the race, adding that the decision on who becomes the APC flagbearer would not be made by ‘one man’.

He described Oshiomhole as a highly respected party man, noting that the former Edo Governor cannot decide who becomes the APC governorship candidate.

“The issue of who becomes a candidate is not a decision for one man. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is highly respected in our party but even him, will not tell you that ‘I will decide who will be.”

In the September 2020 Edo State gubernatorial election, incumbent Governor Obaseki polled a total of 307,955 votes to defeat Pastor Ize-Iyamu who had 223,619 votes as his main rival, representing the APC