APC In Disarray As Oshiomole, Ize-Iyamu Rift Widens Over Composition Of APC Campaign Council
…POI distances Self From list
….Renewed face-off threatens party’s coehesion amidst gale of defection
By Susan Imana
Less than 24 hours after the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) unveiled its 524 member Campaign Council for the September 21 governorship election in the state, sharp disagreements and accusations of greed and high-handedness have emerged, pitting former governorship candidate Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu ( POI) against Senator Adams Oshiomhole.
An impeccable source within the party, who confided in our reporter on condition of anonymity, said that since the list was made public on Saturday, all hell has been let loosed upon the party as Ize-Iyamu has vowed not to accept what he reportedly called an “insult and Oshiomhole’s shenanigans and manifest greed,” the sourced revealed.
The source, who is sympathetic to the Ize-Iyamu tendency in the party, said the Clergyman/Politician is bitter and angry because of what he considers as Oshimhole’s move to “appropriate Monday Okpebholo and thus become the de facto boss knowing full well that himself should be the one dictating the pace of things and calling the shots considering the fact that Oshiomhole’s candidate lost and was eventually integrated as the deputy governorship candidate.”
He reportedly queried what his name was doing at serial number 500 and put it down to a deliberate effort to undermine him in the party and relegate him to the background of the scheme of things.
His followers are reportedly up in arms against the party leadership over the development.
“POI has rejected the list they released yesterday. He is very angry with Oshiomhole. But POI’s followers are even angrier. In fact, they are calling for action to make their feelings known to the party. Some of us are just here to manage whatever they are doing, now they are trying to rub salt and pepper into injury. It will be resisted. Imagine pushing POI’s name far down to number 500. The question is: what is his name doing there?” he queried.
Meanwhile another member of the party who is a former gubernatorial aspirant and prominent stakeholder in Ward 4, Owan West Local Government Area, Victoria Oma Amu, has dumped it for “personal and family reasons.”
Amu, who was Senior Special Assistant during the time of Governor Oshiomhole and later SSA to Governor Godwin Obaseki for one year, is yet to say where she would be heading to.
The party has been hit with a gale of defection of recent. Analyst and political commentators say the “absconditus status” of the party’s flagbearer, Monday Okpebholo is to blame as many members of the party have no single confidence in his ability to provide quality leadership for the state and the party.
The renewed face-off between the two party chieftains has now worsened the division within the party ahead of the coming election just four months away.
