By Iduozee Paul Benin
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State and its candidate, Pastor OsagieIze-Iyamu, received a major boost as Ndigbo in the state have issued a call to shun Godwin Obaseki and the PDP in the September 19 gubernatorial election.
This came to light as the secretary-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dim Uche Okwukwu called all Ndigbo in Edo State to support the candidature of Pastor Ize-Iyamu, citing offending acts of Governor Obaseki against their people as part of the body’s reasons.
“Any organization that strays from political election is doomed and not worthy to exist. This realization informed my timely mobilization of Igbos in Edo State. The Igbos in Edo State include indigenes and non-indigenes; the Igbankes are indigenous just as we have a large population of non-indigenous Igbos.”
He asserted that Edo State is important to Ndigbo because Edos and Igbos share a common destiny as beneficiaries of the River Niger civilization; like the Nile, Congo and Benue rivers civilizations, noting that Pastor Ize-Iyamu’s character was reliable.
He added, “OsagieIze-Iyamu is a thorough and reliable fellow. He is also a disciplined character and an accomplished leader with a huge political experience. Igbos in Edo State should support Ize-Iyamu in his just quest to become the governor in the 2020 Edo Gubernatorial Election.”
Okwukwu also predicted that Ize-Iyamu is likely to win the election on three factors going for him, namely, his ruling APC controls the Edo political structure, the party also controls the center, and his candidacy enjoys Edo-wide popularity and credibility.
The Ndigbo leader urged Edo voters to vote for Ize-Iyamu and the APC to ensure rapid development. He appealed to the Edo electorate, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) security agencies to conduct themselves in an orderly manner capable of guaranteeing an election that is truly free and fair.