EDO 2020: Ize-Iyamu speaks on legal alternative

The loser in Edo guber election in September has revealed the path ahead of him and his party APC after INEC declared the PDP candidate and Gov Godwin Obaseki winner of the election.

According to Ie-Iyamu, he will soon come out to inform his supporters who can’t wait to hear him take a position or seeking redress in the just concluded election.

“We owe you an explanation on the way forward. Indeed, not a few have been bombarding us with this question. Well, we have kept quiet so far, not because we are bad losers, as some unfairly presume. It’s rather because, no matter the situation, we are staunch soldiers of the rule of law and due process,” he said in an October Independence Day speech.

Ize-Iyamu noted that many concerned citizens of the state have advised him not to go to court—in the interest of peace and stability of the state.

“While that cannot be dismissed as an entirely bad plea, what I can say is that whatever action we subsequently take will be rooted in due process and the rule of law. We will exercise every right available to us under the law, given the electoral facts at our disposal,” he said.

“Even as we speak, our people should know that the PDP and their agents and privies have instituted 13 lawsuits against my running mate and I. None of them have they discontinued after the election. So, if the PDP don’t pass up their rights under the law, why should we in the APC do so?”

With this premise, chances high that if Obaseki and the PDP want to play ball by seeking a truce with Ize-Iyamu, then the APC might let thing slide and forget challenging Obaseki’s victory.

Before the election, the APC filed a suit seeking to disqualify Obaseki’s candidacy in the PDP on the ground that his credentials submitted to INEC are not authentic. The APC and its candidate may pursue this in case the negotiation they expect doesn’t pan out good.