Edo Guber: Ize-Iyamu Advises Youths to Remain Vigilant

Obaseki accuses PDP of destroying his posters, bill boards
Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
The Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu Campaign Organisation has urged the youths, including students in Edo State, to remain eternally vigilant as the September 10 state governorship election draws nearer.

 He urged them not allowed themselves to be used and dumped again by Governor Adams Oshiomhole and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for “their selfish political interest.”

The campaign organisation stated this in a statement issued yesterday while responding to on-going secret moves by the APC to financially induce the youths for “unholy and dirty” political jobs during and after the election.

 The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign organisation said it was too late for APC to stop the willpower of the Edo people to punish the ruling party for subjecting them to untold hardship in the past seven and a half years.

 It said PDP believes that one of the ways to guarantee peace and security is to properly direct the energy of the youths to productive ventures through job creation, saying the agenda of the party’s candidate in the election, Ize-Iyamu, if elected, is to create an enabling business environment in the state that would attract honest investors to take advantage of all the Private Partnership Programme (PPP) initiatives for the benefit of the youths.

Condemning Oshiomhole for wasting the state financial resources for a political aspiration of the APC governorship candidate, Godwin Obaseki, Ize-Iyamu campaign organisation said a government that refused to recognise the youths for nearly eight years cannot be trusted.
According to the organisation, “In the last seven and a half years, the APC-led government in the state regarded our young men and women as workers that must be used and dumped. They cannot now come around, few weeks to the election, and try to induce them for their dirty political jobs. We must say no to them because they don’t mean well for us.

“Ize-Iyamu believes strongly that our youths are today’s citizens and they must be recognised for their potential to make amazing changes in the state. Addressing young people’s needs and aspirations is vital for both social and economic progress of the state.

“The Oshiomhole-led APC government has done nothing in nearly eight years to help the youths. He isolated them from the mainstream and infused in them a legacy of distrust and hopelessness.

Meanwhile, the Godwin Obaseki Campaign Organisation has raised the alarm over alleged destruction of its bill boards and posters by suspected supporters of the PDP.Also, the organisation said the PDP was mobilising thugs under the guise of protesting local government workers who are to commence the destruction of posters and bill boards of the APC candidate, Obaseki, warning that such action will be resisted.

 In a statement signed by the Director General of the Obaseki campaign, Osarodion Ogie, it said: “Just last Saturday we woke up and found out that our posters and bill boards around Sapele road and Ikpoba Hill area were destroyed by PDP supporters.
“Apart from that, we have it on good authority that they have recruited some hoodlums under the guise that they are local government workers who are protesting over their pensions and gratuities.

“The idea is for them to go out and destroy our posters under the guide of protest. We want to state clearly that the genuine pensioners are receiving their pensions while genuine local government workers know where to go and what to do.
“This government is workers-friendly and that is the only state that raised its minimum wage from N18, 000  to N25,000. This is not about politics, it is real.

“So we are using this opportunity to alert security agents to watch out for these people because we are ready for a peaceful election. They intend to coerce us into violence but we will not. The state will be calm for this election because we have no opposition. PDP leaders should be warned, they must stop destroying our posters for the interest of peace. They should know that nobody has monopoly of violence but we will continue to remain calm because victory is sure.”