Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has accused the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of grabbing a land belonging to the Oba of Benin, His Royal Majesty, Oba Eradiauwa.
Speaking at the Edo South Senatorial rally of the All Progressives Congress in Benin City, Oshiomhole who said Ize-Iyamu is not a man to be trusted with the state’s resources added: “Ize-Iyamu even took Oba’s land, and I say so with my hand on the Bible, God I speak before you whether this is true or not. He took Oba’s land, even the Crown Prince knows how much I intervened, he was giving our party a bad name, and I told Ize-Iyamu ‘If you want to grab land, is it the Oba’s land you will grab’? He said he wanted to use the Oba’s land to farm, and I said if he wants to farm is it inside the City he will set up a farm, won’t he go look for land in neighbouring villages? What kind of farmer farms inside the town?
“The person who can grab the land belonging to the Oba of Benin, if he sees your money, will you be able to stop him? Someone who is not afraid of the Oba, will he be afraid of you? Everybody must account for his deeds and misdeeds, because our God doesn’t sleep.”
The Governor urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the Okada road which was purportedly done under the former PDP Government.
He said: “in the books of Edo State Government, Pastor Ize-Iyamu, as Secretary to Government, signed the minutes where they awarded contract worth billions of naira to dualise the road from Okada junction to Okada town, they even claimed to have internal roads in Okada town. They collected that money in full and that job was never done and EFCC has not investigated that job. It will have to be investigated now that the new Inspector-General of Police in investigating the death of Bola Ige, of Harry Marshal, EFCC must come back and reinvestigate all the jobs which Ize-Iyamu and co claimed to have done, which they did not do, I will show them the records, we will drive to the location and they will see for themselves how much was taken and find out that nothing was done.
“In our books, Ize-Iyamu, as Secretary to State Governor, appended his signature to minutes where he claimed to have awarded the dualisation and erosion control at Siluko road and Teachers’ House, and anytime they were broke, they will say further amendments to the contract, altogether, Ize-Iyamu and co took billions of naira in the name of solving the drainage problem at Teachers’ House. But it was never done.”
He said the past PDP government was not worker-friendly, saying “with Ize-Iyamu as Chief of Staff and Secretary to State Government, the first action they took was to dismiss all the Permsecs and did not pay them their gratuity and pension”, saying they did this because they wanted to appoint others who would help them cook the books.
He also said the PDP government with Ize-Iyamu as SSG dismissed 5,000 civil servants and didn’t pay their gratuity and pensions, adding that his government lifted an embargo placed on employment after it came on board on November 12, 2008.
Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Godwin Obaseki while addressing the rally noted that Ize-Iyamu doubted his promise to create 200,000 jobs within four years, because he (Ize-Iyamu) “cannot create wealth, he has never worked in his life.”
He promised that his administration will be a “people-first” government which will focus on creating wealth and empowering the youths, saying “we will make Edo youths economically self-sufficient, it’s what I have done for others all my life, and I will do it for Edo youths.”
He said although the present administration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has done well, but Edo is still work-in-progress and there’s still much more to do, and that he will build on the successes recorded by the Oshiomhole administration and do more in the state.
