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Pastor Osagie Ize-lyamu has just returned to the APC. Do you see his defection as a threat to Governor Godwin Obaseki’s re-election bid?*
Pastor Osagie Ize-lyamu is somebody that is highly respected in the political arena of Edo State and in Nigeria. While Ize-lyamu was in office as Chief of Staff and Secretary to the state government, he used his office to build many people. His goodwill is responsible for his followership. In fact, Ize-lyamu influenced my appointment as Commissioner for Land and Survey under Chief Lucky Igbinedion. So, there are so many people in Edo State that he helped to become commissioners, board members, state lawmakers, senators, among others. So, over the years these people have become very loyal to him. As to whether is coming to APC is a threat or not, it shouldn’t be a threat to Obaseki, there is a parable in Benin that the Oba is always happy when the palace is full.
Obaseki should be happy that the APC is becoming a full house, and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole should be commended to have succeeded in pulling a political grassroot general to APC. In fact the coming of Ize-lyamu to our party in Edo is a big plus and should be applauded by all well-meaning APC members in Edo. And again, Ize-Iyamu has made it clear that he is coming to add value to APC, he is coming to unite the warring parties and help build the party to an enviable level. He has not said he is coming to run for the governorship, but of course he has the right to contest because he is a member of the party. You see people just assume because he gave him a very tough fight in the last election he is coming back again to have a rematch.
Of course you and I know that if there is a rematch today the loser will be Obaseki, because he has isolated himself from the political class, he has so delineated the political class, he doesn’t have respect and regards for the political class. Today, 90 per cent of the political class will vote for another candidate, not Obaseki, that is the reality on the ground. For people like us who have been political beneficiary of Pastor Ize- Iyamu, we are happy that he is back to our family. He is a strong politician, a good political tactician, a strategist, we both anchored Oshiomhole’s campaign, we have had very good working relationship, that is why you see people come out in their thousands to welcome him back home.
Hasn’t he left his followers in the PDP?
Ize- Iyamu did not just come to the APC, he came with who is who in the PDP, and he came with people responsible for PDP winning Esanland. In Edo North and Edo South, it is the same, so in my own humble opinion without any disrespect to the PDP, his leaving PDP for APC signals the end of PDP in the state. One can rightly say that Edo State has become one party state, because all the big and strong people that make PDP strong and tick are now members of the APC and that ought to have been the glory of Obaseki.
And if he were a politician, and have good political advisers, he wouldn’t have done what he did during the official defection of Ize-lyamu. If I were to advice Obaseki, I would have told him that while the declaration was ongoing, he should have drove in to welcome Ize-Iyamu, because he is the number one party man, he is the chief executive of the state, and nobody would have stopped him from coming. And if the national chairman was on the podium, embrace him, exchange good handshake with him. If he had done that, it would have send a good signal to so many supporters, the question would have been; are these people really quarrelling? But he decided to stay away because he lacks political knowledge and intrigue and then he decided to put all obstacles on the way so that the event will not hold.
Don’t you think the ban on political meetings and rallies in Edo is aimed at silencing Edo APC members?
It is dictatorial, it is authoritarian, and it cannot stand. After the purported ban, I had a meeting in my house, I will keep hosting my political friends, so I’m daring the governor to come and revoke the C of O (Certificate of Occupancy) on my house.
This man forgets that the governorship will end one day. We will continue to hold rallies and meetings, you cannot continue to control people and bully them, a governor is not a bully, he is not an emperor, he is supposed to be a stalwart, a servant elected by the people to serve them.
He should look at other governors that have governed the state, they did not kill anybody, he cannot pocket us, and our rights to freedom of association are guaranteed by the constitution not by Obaseki. Today, he has less than one year to go, and in the unlikely event that he wins a second term, he will just serve another four years. So, he should not turn himself to a dictator, if he wants to be a dictator, he should go to Uganda.
People are of the view that President Buhari is taking sides with Obaseki because of his recent tour with the president. What is your take?
It is only those that do not know the workings of government that will fall for such assumption.
Those who travel with the President are scheduled by the Chief of Staff, and I have been long enough in government to know that those things can be influenced.
A governor can call the Chief of Staff and plead to be in the convoy of the president, and it will be fixed. Buhari’s mind is inscrutable, you cannot read his mind from his facial expression. If you are to use facial expressions, there are pictures on the Internet where Buhari was looking at Obaseki scornfully.
That he travelled with the president amounts to nothing. If you recall days and months before the former governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, was booted out of office, he travelled with the president many times.
When it was time for decision making on who becomes the next governor his numerous travelling with the president could not help him or save him, because Lagos is not Kastina where the President is from, neither is Edo Kastina. The fate of any governor or APC candidate will be determined by the APC people in Edo State, not by those governors from other states that are currently giving him false hope.
Does Oshiomhole still have the listening ears of PMB?
There is no doubt whatsoever that Oshiomhole enjoys the confidence of Mr. President. In the past four weeks, the president has on different occasions publicly expressed confidence in the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman of the party.
The President had several times commended the energy that Oshiomhole has brought into managing the affairs of the party. President Buhari has advised governors like Obaseki to go and use the same to run their states not sleeping at important state functions.
Oshiomhole’s political dexterity has brought sanity to APC across the country; look at the election conducted at the Senate and the House of Representatives, Oshiomhole ensured that top leadership positions went to the APC, and that has harmonised the smooth working relationship between the president and the leadership of the house.
Again look at the elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states, Oshiomhole also proved to the people that APC is the party. So, tell me what further prove do you need to know that Oshiomhole is working. I make bold to say that there is no problem between the president and Oshiomhole. I’m very convinced that by the time his first four years are completed, people will beg him to continue.
What is your advice as regards the 2020 APC primaries?
Because of this Yuletide period, in the spirit of the season, my advice is to say that this is the last opportunity before the window is shut against Obaseki. This is the time for him to reach out to the party members and plead with them. After December 31, the door will be permanently closed against him, because the line would have been drawn and we will do everything politically possible to ensure that he does not become a nominee of our party. We will support somebody else for the governorship position if he fails to do the needful by December 31.
This issue is resolvable; it is only for him as governor to do the right thing. It is not a battle between Oshiomhole and Obaseki, but a battle between Obaseki and party leaders. If he doesn’t do the needful by December 31, he will have himself to blame.