Osagie Ize-Iyamu, candidate of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming gubernatorial election
in Edo, says he does not want to go to jail.
Speaking with state house
correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday,
Ize-Iyamu distanced himself from the violence happening in the state.
The camp of Ize-Iyamu and that of
Godwin Obaseki, the governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) in the September 19 governorship election have been trading blames over
the disturbances i Edo.
On July, 10 persons were wounded
after gunmen struck at a PDP rally in Edo.
The Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) has threatened to halt the governorship election in
the state if violence persists.
But responding to a question on
violence in the state, Ize-Iyamu said Obaseki should be held responsible for
the attacks.
He said governor had threatened
to deal with anybody due to the immunity he enjoys.
“On the issue of violence that
you mentioned, if you ask your correspondents in Edo, it is the governor that
has been beating the war drums. My billboards are being vandalised, nobody has
touched their own,” he said.
“We wrote petitions to the
commissioner of police, the Director DSS and they will attest to the fact that
on a regular basis they are destroying our billboards. They are the ones that
want to make the state ungovernable and I am sure you heard the governor say
that himself and his deputy have immunity and so they can deal with anybody.
“I don’t have immunity, I don’t
want to go to jail and it is not in my character to deal with anyone. They did
their flag off at the stadium, nobody molested them. This morning I placed a call to the DSS director
to tell him that I am aware that the deputy governor has sent money to the
student union leaders, appealing to them to come and demonstrate at Ugbowo,
which is the route we are taking to our flag off tomorrow (Saturday). Of course
the boys were just looking at him and informed us.
“So we are not beating any war
drum, we believe in peace, our president believes in peace, our party leaders
believe in peace and we cannot disappoint them.
“So I can assure you that on our
part, we will conduct ourselves in a peaceful manner, our campaign will be done
peacefully, the elections by the grace of God will be done peaceful. We are
only appealing to the PDP and the governor to do the same.”
Ize-Iyamu also said Adams
Oshiomhole, former national chairman of the APC, has apologised for the bad
things he said about him in 2016.
Oshiomhole had backed Obaseki
against Ize-Iyamu in 2016, and while campaigning for the governor, he described
Ize-Iyamu as someone who cannot be trusted.
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