A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and one of the aspirant in the coming governorship election in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has cleared the controversy surrounding an alleged diversion of rice.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) had accused some aspirants of the PDP of diverting rice meant for the state by the campaign organisation of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The APC also threatened to drag the PDP to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Presidency for probe.
Some leaders led by Okharedia Ihimekpen had claimed that a governorship aspirant under PDP had also diverted funds meant for the Jonathan’s election campaign.
APC claimed that the sticker of one of the PDP governorship aspirant was super imposed on the 2kg rice which initially carried the map of Nigeria with inscription “Feed Nigeria Campaign 2015”.
The party which spoke through its Publicity Secretary Godwin Erhahon displayed the rice in Benin and said “You can see that originally, what was written on the sack was feed Nigeria Campaign 2015. But the aspirant super-imposed his campaign sticker on it. Can somebody who is running for governorship write ‘Feed Nigeria Campaign’ in the rice he wants to share to his supporters? No. Rather, it should have been feed Edo State”
Responding to the allegation, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu who was the state coordinator of Dr. Goodluck JOnathan Presidential Campaign described the assertion as false and fabricated.
The Former Secretary to the State Government said “Recently some political hirelings attempted albeit unsuccessful to cast aspersion on the integrity of a PDP gubernatorial aspirant by falsely accusing him of diverting rice meant for the presidential campaign of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and distributing it as his own Christmas gift to Edo People. This baseless allegation, which is absurd, was quickly refuted by the leadership of PDP in Edo State as untrue, fabricated and a malicious attempt to smear the image of the said aspirant. That emphatic statement ought to have cleared the matter but clueless detractors desperate to earn their pay stuck to their mischief and insisted that their silly allegation must be investigated.
“I was by the grace of God the coordinator of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidential Campaign in Edo State, an assignment I discharged faithfully and successfully despite the final outcome. I am aware that the rice allegation is sponsored by political dwarfs who cannot comprehend my political height and consistently look for platforms to climb and throw stones. For the records, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan or PDP never brought rice to distribute for the presidential election in Edo State so it is impossible to comptemplate non-existent rice being diverted. It was Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) a support group for the then President that sent some bags of rice branded in their name and these rice which were in 5kg bags were given to the party leadership to distribute and were never given to me as State coordinator.”
The PDP aspirant, who may have deduced from the vague accusation that he (Pastor Ize Iyamu) was the accused, explained that the rice he shared during Christmas were in 2kg, 10kg, 25kg and 50kg.
He said “The rice I shared in Christmas were in 50kg, 25kg, 10kg and 2kg bags respectively. The 2kg bags which had the inscription of PDP and operation feed Nigeria was produced by a friend and his phone number is boldly written on the sachet. He gave me these sachets free of charge to be able to give as many people as possible rice as gift during Christmas. I stuck my stickers on the sachets after bagging them to enable the recipients know where the rice came from and I thank God for all those who supported me to achieve this gesture of love in a state that has been plundered by those who promised to abolish poverty.
Pastor Ize-Iyamu who is popularly referred to as POI by his fans dared the APC to call the number on the claimed bag of rice to confirm the producer.
His words: “I challenge those who persist in lies and character assassination to call the phone number on the back of the 2kg sachets and confirm the producer of these sachets. Common sense which is lacking in the life of political thieves could have revealed that rice stored for over a year would be prey to weevils and clearly not suitable for human consumption.”
“I am however not surprised at the lies targeted at me considering the fear and trepidation that my aspiration conjures in the minds of ingrates and upstarts who have murdered sleep and are afraid of tomorrow.
Jonathan Rice Diversion: Pastor Ize-Iyamu replies APC
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