Osagie Ize-Iyamu
As Edo State prepares for a fresh governorship election, Osagie Ize-Iyamu has obtained the nomination form in Abuja and will be slugging it out with the incumbent State governor Godwin Obaseki after which the winner of that contest will be the All Progressives Congress, APC flag bearer in the election.
This is coming after Ize-Iyamu emerged the consensus candidate of the party’s faction beloved to be loyal to the party’s National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomole.
According to reports, Ize-Iyamu emerged after a meeting held in Abuja to decide who will contest against Obaseki who is finding his way to return as governor for another four years in a direct primary election on June 22.
Ize-Iyamu is a former Secretary to the Edo state government and also contested against Obaseki during the 2016 governorship election under the auspices of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).
A party source claimed that Ize-Iyamu was given the privilege of becoming the consensus candidate because of his performance in the last governorship election in PDP.
According to him, Ize-Iyamu has gained popularity across the state and the party is optimistic that such could help the APC retain the governorship seat after the upcoming September 19 governorship election.
You would recall that the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC said it would not consider postponing the governorship elections expected to hold in Edo and Ondo States this year because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The electoral umpire recently said it would design the ballot cubical in a way that would help adhere to the social distancing rule and other precautionary measures needed to avoid exposing electorates to contracting Coronavirus during the upcoming elections.
The current Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki and the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomole who brought him into the part and nominated him as his successor in the last election have been at loggerhead for a while now, bringing a lot of uncertainties into whether he would be able to get the party ticket for a second term in office.
