The chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in all the 18 local government areas in Edo say Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a gubernatorial aspirant in the state, is not a member of the party.
The chairmen said this in reaction to an endorsement by the faction of Adams Oshiomhole, APC national chairman, as the consensus aspirant of the ruling party.
Ize-Iyamu picked his expression of interest and nomination forms for the position at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday.
In a statement on Thursday, they said the waiver given to Ize-Iyamu by the national working committee (NWC) of the party is illegal.
“We the local government area party chairmen of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo state wish to inform the general public for the avoidance of doubt that the purported agreement to return Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as a consensus candidate of APC in Edo state is totally false and without foundation,” they said.
“Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is not a member of our party. He led his followers out of the APC in 2014 and even contested the governorship election on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2016 election, which he lost.
“The purported waiver granted to Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu by the national working committee of the party is ultra vires, null and void, as article 31 of the party constitution confers that power on the national executive committee of the party. Besides, the conditions for waiver prescribed by the party’s constitution have not been met.
“The truth is that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu recently joined the Edo Peoples Movement (EPM), which is a group organized by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to destabilise APC in Edo State.
“The party has a constitution and the constitution makes provision on how things are done, including registration of new members.”
They asked President Muhammadu Buhari to call Oshiomhole to order calling for indirect primary election.
