‘This Election is About the Survival of Nigeria’
Lawyer and businessman, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has at different times been Chief of Staff to former Edo State governor, Chief Lucky Igbinedion and later the Secretary to the Edo State Government. He was the state’s Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) govern
As the Director of the Atiku/Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation in Edo State, what are the chances of PDP winning in the state? Our chances are very bright. Some months ago, people were worried that we were not doing much; but in the past few weeks that has changed. We have been able to do rallies in the three senatorial districts and we have also gone round most of the local government headquarters. We are also doing ward rallies in some places and in some places we are even doing house-to-house and street-to-street campaign. We have played host to our Vice-Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, who had an interactive session with a lot of professionals and associations in the state. All these outings have been overwhelming in terms of turn out and in terms of support. The issue is very simple: the APC has to justify its election four years ago. Four years ago, they promised to turn the country around. They talked about change and how in some few months everything will change. They told us in three months Boko Haram will be a thing of the past. They told us in six months the power problem will be fixed. They told us there was no need for subsidy, that it was a fraud. They told us they had the know-how to give Nigerians three million jobs annually. They told us the naira/dollar rate was ridiculous, that they would bring it down. They made so many promises: pump price was too high; and Nigerians were impressed and they won the election. But, four years has come and the question is, are you better off? Of course, there is nothing they promised that they have been able to fulfil. Beyond that -they vilified PDP and now, which one is better? How much is a bag of rice now? Can you sleep now? We heard recently that a former member of the Edo State House of Assembly, a good friend of mine and nice gentleman, who is contesting again for House of Assembly on APC platform, has been kidnapped, right in his own house, not on the road. The insecurity is now getting to our doorstep. It is no longer that they say part of the road is dangerous or that time of the day; but now, even your own house is not safe. I am sorry to be using it as an incident; but sometimes we must point to what is factual. We saw the Governor of Borno State in tears recently. I didn’t see him in tears during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s time. I heard the governor of Zamfara State actually saying that they should declare a state of emergency in his state because the situation has gotten out of hand. Yet, insecurity was a major point in the three-point agenda of the APC.
But they will tell you they have done so much in reducing insecurity in Nigeria compared to what happened in 2015. What is your take on that?
That is not true. If the country was bad as they tried to paint it, how come INEC was able to declare election results in the 36 state, especially in Borno State? INEC did not abandon Borno and they did not abandon Adamawa. They did not abandon Yobe and incidentally, these are states that the APC won! So, it would have been strategic for PDP to even use insecurity as a basis not to do election in those states. But former President Jonathan asked for time to deal with the situation and they said they ordered for security equipment that they believed will assist to deal with that situation very quickly and really, the moment the equipment arrived, people saw the Boko Haram seriously being put on the defensive and before we knew it the areas became safe enough to do elections and elections were done. So, for anybody to say that the situation now is better than when we handed over is ridiculous; because by the time we handed over, Boko Haram had virtually been reduced to almost nothing. If you say it is not true, then how did you get the results you got? Is there any local government in Yobe, Borno or Adamawa states where results were not declared? I am not aware. So, it means that President Goodluck Jonathan did a great job. They said that Boko Haram had been “technically defeated.” That is the new phrase. I don’t know the difference between ‘’defeated’’ and ‘’technically defeated.’’ May be what they meant was that theoretically, Boko Haram has been defeated but practically, they are still fighting them because I am still trying to understand that phrase ‘technically defeated.’’ But, the reality is that Boko Haram is still very strong in our territories. Before they said they were looking for soft targets but we know they are still controlling territories.
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