BY: EBEN ENASCO KINGSLEY, BENIN CITY
The People Democratic Party, PDP, governorship hopeful, Pastor Osagie Ize- Iyamu has described the alleged rice diversion as baseless, absurd and mere attempts to smear his image by some opposition party detractors who are bent on staying in power at the expense of the people .
This comes on the hills of speculations making the rounds in the
metropolis over rice meant to wool over voters for former president
goodluck Jonathan campaign that was diverted and kept for personal use.
It was gathered that, some political hirelings attempted whilst
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 was however, 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.
The pastor cum politician sterned while feeding questions from our
correspondent on the way and manner the inexistent issue was blown out of proportion, stressing that the leadership of the Party has since moved on.
While reacting to the allegation he posited that emphatic statement
made by the leadership of the party ought to have cleared the matter but clueless detractors desperate to earn chip publicity.
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 contemplate non-existent rice being diverted.
He explained that 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 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.
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.
