President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday officially endorsed Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the All Progressives Congress candidate for the September 19 governorship election in Edo State.
Buhari met with Ize-Iyamu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where he presented the party’s flag to him.
However, the People’s Democratic Party in the state has criticized the meeting, describing it as “ill-advised and a dent on the image of President Buhari, whose administration is known for the spirited fight against the hydra-headed monster called corruption, which has encumbered the development of our dear country for decades”.
Ize-Iyamu was led to the meeting by APC’s chairman of the interim caretaker committee, Mai Mala Buni.
The meeting took place against the background of a political crisis rocking Edo State House of Assembly. The crisis, sparked by the impeachment on Wednesday of the Deputy Speaker by members said to be loyal to governor Godwin Obaseki, led to a retaliatory move by a group loyal to Adams Oshimohole, former National Chairman of the APC, who impeached the Speaker and elected its own Speaker and Deputy.
On Thursday morning, security agents besieged the Assembly Complex in Benin City.
Ize-Iyamu, who on Thursday congratulated the factional Speaker, told reporters in Abuja refuted the claim that the election of the factional Speaker took place in his residence in Benin City.
“Let me debunk the statement that 17 members of the State House of Assembly sat in my sitting room, it is not true,” he said.
“Unknown to President Buhari and his advisers, the APC gubernatorial candidate is desperately in need of an endorsement from someone like the President, to shore up his battered image in Edo State and the larger court of public opinion that have followed Ize-Iyamu’s trial very closely,” PDP said in a statement by Chris Osa Nehikhare, member of the Edo State PDP Campaign Council.
He noted ht Ize-Iyamu is currently being tried for money laundering to the tune of N700 million. The matter is before Honourable Justice J. M. Umar at the Federal High Court in Benin City, Edo State, with suit No. FHC/BE21C/ 2016, he said.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed the case preferring eight-count charges against him and four other accused persons bordering on alleged illegal receipt of public funds to the tune of N700 million for the purpose of the 2015 general elections, contrary to the provisions of the EFCC Act and the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act. His next court date is October 15th.,” the statement added.
“It is our considered view that associating with a man with this corruption baggage (alleged) compromises the integrity of the President’s fight against corruption and sends mixed signals to Nigerians, home and abroad as well as other nationals who have invested enormous faith in the President’s fight against corruption.
“The Nigeria we envisage under Buhari’s watch is one in which people like Ize-Iyamu, will be told in clear terms, to go and clear their names, before being seen with, or around the occupier of the exalted office of the president.
“This dangerous precedent, if set, will embolden other Nigerians with similar or worse charges to hobnob and organize hang-out sessions with the president in the days and weeks to come,” he concluded.
