Unknown to many in Edo State, the near comatose state of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state even as election approaches, has its root in the ongoing cold war between two of its leading party juggernauts, Adams Oshiomole and the party’s former governorship candidate in 2020, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, POI, over last party primary and convention money paid out in USD.
Though the Edo State governorship slot is not up for contest in the February election, state and national assembly seats are up for grabs as the election date approaches.
Against expectation, APC, a party that was in power in the state for eight years, is in power at the federal level and with political heavyweights all over the place has floundered in the area of mobilisation while Labour Party, LP, and People’s Democratic Party, PDP, having a field day.
Truth Live News can authoritatively report that the party has been suffering a bad run as a result of a fight over alleged disloyalty, and the sharing of money for delegates, as well as some ostensible moves which happened during the last APC party primary/convention.
“Put simply, money in hard currency, Dollars, precisely, from Vice President Yemi Osinbajo through Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu to help mobilize delegates to vote for him at the expense of Bola Tinubu is at the heart of the problem,” explained a source close to one of the protagonists in the story.
Though reports of the alleged frosty relationship between Oshiomole and POI have been speculated, nobody has been quite sure about it and none could adduce a reason for such squabbles of two “love birds’ who were over each other during the Edo governorship election two earlier.
But as learnt, the fight started after POI Â acted as ‘a go-between’ for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the convention delegates from Edo State where thousands of US dollars were said to have exchanged hands.
Truth Live News many resources in the camps of Oshiomole, former national chairman of APC and two times governor of the state, and of Osinbajo revealed that Oshiomhole took exception to the role played by POI, who was also at some point the Secretary to the Edo State government.
His role during the convention was against the interest of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the primary.
Explaining further, an associate of the vice president said that Ize-Iymu had remained aloof at the early stages leading to the convention in Abuja until the issue of who handles the VPs dollars to Edo Delegates came up.
“To be sincere, Ize-Iyamu was not on our side (Osinbajo) when the whole campaign started.
“We tried to approach him but he made himself elusive until someone told us to use him as a go-between to settle Edo delegates since Oshiomhole was clear from day one to be working for the emergence of Tinubu,” explained the source from the VP’s camp.
That action, said the source, didn’t go down well with Oshiomhole.
To those who know, that action confirmed for Oshiomole who had been suspicious of Iyamu’s nonchalance after he lost the election in 2020, that his party candidate wasn’t going to be loyal to him. It was rumoured then that the Redeemed Church Pastor had blamed his loss to Obaseki largely on Oshiomhole who he accused of destroying his image in the 2016 election when he ran under the PDP’s umbrella.
“It is a known fact in Edo today that Oshiomole is Tinubu’s point man.
“So why would Ize Iyamu work against that interest?
“Oshiomole was also aware of reports purporting that POI has been seeking avenues to work directly for Tinubu behind his back,” the source explained.
Truth Live News learnt that Ize-Iyamu met the VP’s team in person where a deal was struck.
He was to deliver Edo Delegates for Osinbajo and agreed to work and distribute the cash via proxies to avoid backlash from Oshiomole.
Findings also show that Ize-Iyamu asked the VP funds handler to give the money which was in dollars to the Edo state APC publicity Secretary and a former Esan North-east council chairman.
By the account received on the alleged surreptitious move by POI, the money was shared with every delegate at $10,000 each.
Ize-Iyamu was said to have got a hefty payoff on the political brokerage. He smiled off with the money leaving Oshiomole seething with hurt and anger.
Oshiomole read and interpreted POI’s actions as acts of betrayal and disloyalty and has since set out to pay him back in kind.
“His decision has been to cut Iyamu to size,” explained an Oshiomole loyalist.
“Oshiomole has blocked Iyamu’s chances by denying him all the privileges and opportunities to be close to the powers that be or hold any significant position in the presidential campaign council of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Comrade is not happy with Pastor and you know once comrade is done with you he cut you off completely. And I can also tell you that most of Oshiomhole’s followers in even Edo south, where Ize-Iyamu comes from are not happy with the Pastor and have vowed never to have anything to do with him politically in the state.
“As far as the Comrade (Oshiomole) is concerned, POI is history. He is so down politically right now, so much so that if he goes into a popularity test with Oshiomhole today in his Ward or LGA, Oshiomhole will take him to the cleaners.
“He tried to be smart by making moves through some Asiwaju boys to gain direct access to him and those boys were always reporting to Oshiomhole and you know he doesn’t like it when another captain is trying to get on his boat”, the source told the newspaper.