From Tony Osauzo, Benin

EDO State Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) governor­ship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has challenged the state governor, Comrade Ad­ams Oshiomhole to probe the eight years he spent in office between 1999 and 2007 as Chief of Staff and Secretary to the State Government while he still has power to do so.

He threw the challenge at Uromi, Esan North East Lo­cal Government Area of the state when he took his guber­natorial campaign to the area.

Ize-Iyamu who vowed to probe the government of Os­hiomhole if elected into office, also called on the All Progres­sives Congress (APC) gov­ernorship candidate, Godwin Obaseki, to start speaking for himself since he is the one contesting election and not Os­hiomhole.

“The only person speaking in APC is Adams Oshiomhole. If the candidate he has brought is dumb, he should tell us so that we can arrange a sign lan­guage interpreter for him. We can also pray for him so that he will be able to speak.

“I call on Adams Oshiom­hole to probe my time in gov­ernment and look at everything that I did. Let him do it because by the grace of God, when I am governor, I will probe him. I will probe him; every kobo that has come to Edo State, must be accounted for. That is his fear; that is why he can no longer sleep.

“Adams Oshiomhole be­lieves that the more he attacks, the more he can hide the truth. He should know that it is not by insulting Ize-Iyamu or Chief Anenih.

Only recently in a Catholic Church, he met Chief Anenih and apologized to him on the altar to forgive him. Days after, he was abusing Chief Anenih again.

“He says Pastor Ize-Iyamu is bad; Ize-Iyamu is useless.

When he appointed Pas­tor Ize-Iyamu the DG of his campaign, he didn’t know that time? When he made him National Vice Chairman of his party, he didn’t know then?. Now that Ize-Iyamu has left him, Ize-Iyamu is suddenly bad.”

The PDP governorship can­didate accused the Oshiomhole administration of being notori­ous for inflating contract sums, citing the newly established Edo University Iyamho (EUI) and the Benin Airport road contracts as examples of highly inflated projects in the state.