‘Ize-Iyamu yet to meet conditions for granting waiver’

By Bisi Olaniyi, Benin

The chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 18 local government areas of Edo State have said that the consensus candidate of pro-Adams Oshiomhole camp, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, did not meet the conditions for waiver granted him on May 21 by some members of the National Working Committee (NWC).

They said that the decision to present Ize-Iyamu, the 2016 governorship candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the consensus candidate of Edo APC would not stand, claiming that he was not a member of the party (APC).

The APC chairmen in Edo, led by their Chairman, Ben Oghomu, yesterday during a news conference at the state secretariat of the party along Airport Road, Benin, described Ize-Iyamu’s May 26 consensus candidature in Abuja as null, void and of no effect.

They pledged to ensure that Governor Godwin Obaseki would emerge victorious during the June 22 primary election of APC, using the indirect mode, adding that he would also win the governorship poll on September 19, thereby continuing in office beyond November 12.

The local government chairmen said: “We wish to state for the avoidance of doubt that the purported agreement to return Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as a consensus candidate of the APC is without foundation.

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Pastor Ize-Iyamu is not a member of our party. He led his followers out of APC in 2014 and even contested the governorship on the platform of PDP in 2016, which he lost.

”The purported waiver granted Pastor Ize-Iyamu by the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC is ultra vires, null and void, as Article 31 of the party’s constitution confers the power on the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.

Besides, the conditions for waiver prescribed by the party’s constitution have not been met.

”The truth is that Pastor Ize-Iyamu recently joined Edo People’s Movement (EPM), which is a group organised by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to destabilise APC in Edo State.

The party has a constitution and the constitution makes provisions on how things are done, including registration of new members.