Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has said he distanced himself from political violence in the state because does not want to go to jail.
Ize-Iyamu stated this while speaking with state house correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday.
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 in Edo State.
On July, 10 persons were reportedly wounded after gunmen struck at a PDP rally in Edo.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) consequently threatened to halt the governorship election in the state if violence persists.
But while responding to a question on violence in the state, the APC candidate insisted Obaseki should be held responsible for the attacks.
Ize-Iyamu alleged that the 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 he 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 peacefully. 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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