I’m A Bona Fide Member of APC Based On Its Constitution – Ize-Iyamu Insists
BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – A frontline contender fo the Governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has declared that he remains a bona fide member of the party.
He said the antics of some members of the APC in the state, who are obviously in the minority do not in any material particular hold water, stressing that such sponsored members are only engaging in fruitless exercise.
Ize-Iyamu, who stated these while reacting to a purported statement credited to some members of the party that claimed to be Chairmen of the 18 Local Government Areas of the state that are challenging his membership of the party on the grounds that it fell short of the party’s constitutional requirements, said that it is quite unfortunate that many of such members do not bother to read the provisions of the Constitution of the party they claim to belong.
A statement by the Director of Communication and Media of the Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu Campaign Organisation, Mr. John Mayaki, noted that Ize-Iyamu was one of those who not only formed the APC but drafted the constitution of the party.
According to Mayaki; “The APC apart from being a progressive party was deliberately formed to be a mass organisation and one of the things those who drafted the APC constitution (including Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu) did, was to make it easy for Nigerians, irrespective of who they are, to be able to join the party like the APC without people like these renegades trying to put hurdles in their way – politics is a game of number.
“Ideally, you would want to welcome people to your party. If you look at the constitution of the APC, Article 9, you will find out that, unknown to them, you can go to your ward and register or you can even do online registration – the essence of this is to ensure that nobody is deprived.
“When Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu among others were putting the party together, the Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki was not there and nowhere to be found; so how do you expect a man who should be a beneficiary of a house that he helped to build be stopped from gaining access into the house?
“However, knowing the rules, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu went to his ward chairman, Mr. Ogbebor in Ugboko ward in Orhiomwon to say himself and his teaming followers were coming back home, and he was given the party card. The party chairman brought him a party card and the day he was declaring, he raised up his card and said ‘gentlemen, what I am doing is just a mere ceremony’ but the truth about it is that he has actually gone to his ward to register, he openly tenderer his party card and they were shocked.”
“What these people don’t understand is that in the APC constitution, there is even an alternative – the online option and so, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu applied – nobody can quarrel with the online registration; he has the slip, the registration number, his name is on the portal of the party.
“Again, unknown to these renegades, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu does not really need to rely on that card because with his online registration, nobody can challenge his membership of the party. What they are doing is an exercise in futility,” Mayaki declared.
