‘Your Legitimacy Sermon Is Hypocrisy’ – Edo PDP Slams Ize-Iyamu Over ‘Self-Marketing Fiction’

The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)in Edo State, Tony Aziegbemi, has launched a scathing response to a recent publication by Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, describing the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain’s commentary as a desperate attempt at self-promotion.

Aziegbemi, in a rejoinder, said the statement issued by Ize-Iyamu was not in defence of Governor Monday Okpebholo but a carefully choreographed audition by a politician driven solely by personal ambition.

He said, “His essay drips with desperation, revisionism and opportunism. Since he has chosen to deliberately mislead the public, it is necessary to set the record straight with clarity and precision.”

Aziegbemi faulted the Okpebholo administration’s handling of the Ramat Park flyover, insisting the project lacked transparency and due process.

“The so-called Ramat Park flyover is not an achievement. It is a contract awarded without design, without a tenders board, without transparency and without basic due process,” he said.

He added that despite receiving more than ₦236bn in ten months, the administration could not point to a single completed project.

“What is marketed as development is nothing more than hurried concrete, hollow publicity and improvised engineering. Edo people deserve better,” he stated.

‘Ize-Iyamu’s Legitimacy Sermon Is Hypocrisy’

The PDP chairman accused Ize-Iyamu of feigning respect for judicial legitimacy only when convenient.

“This is the same man who rejected election results in 2016, rejected them again in 2020, litigated endlessly, lost at every level, and only discovered rule of law after exhausting all appeals,” Aziegbemi said.

He claimed that Ize-Iyamu privately held contrary opinions about Okpebholo but had now chosen public praise for political gain.

“Hypocrisy has always been his second nature,” he added.

‘Obaseki Delivered Edo’s Most Ambitious Infrastructure Since 1999’

Aziegbemi dismissed attempts to undermine former Governor Godwin Obaseki’s tenure, listing several landmark projects delivered under the PDP administration.

He highlighted the modern secretariat complex, John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy, Edo Tech Park, 1,200km of fibre-optic connectivity, remodelled colleges, multiple primary healthcare centres, modular refineries, independent power projects and stormwater interventions.

“The difference between solid development and hurried political construction is clear,” he said.

The PDP leader faulted Ize-Iyamu’s criticism of the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation programme.

“Over 11,300 teachers trained, more than 900 schools strengthened and over 300,000 learners impacted. To trivialise such a landmark reform is not analysis; it is ignorance masquerading as commentary,” he said.

Aziegbemi said the challenges at Ambrose Alli University predated Okpebholo, insisting the Special Intervention Team rescued the institution from entrenched fraud.

“The SIT uncovered over 1,300 ghost workers. What Okpebholo now celebrates as restoration is merely the return of the same interests that crippled the university for decades,” he said.

‘Economy Now Opaque Under Okpebholo’

The PDP chairman criticised claims that leakages in government revenue had been blocked, alleging that Edo was now run without transparency.

He said, “Edo State is now run without audited accounts, without published procurement records, without functioning land administration and with Certificates of Occupancy practically suspended because the governor has not mastered a consistent signature.”

According to him, investors had fled and “economic governance has collapsed into patronage.”

Aziegbemi accused the Okpebholo administration of failing to curb rising insecurity.

“Violent cult clashes have surged across Etsako West, Esan West, Egor, Ikpoba-Okha, Uhunmwode and Oredo. Kidnappings have risen even on major roads,” he noted.

“Bulldozers and media theatrics do not qualify as security,” the PDP Chieftain added.

Aziegbemi dismissed social welfare claims attributed to the APC administration. He said, “The Pastor reels out billion-naira bursaries, billion-naira traders’ funds and revived social welfare schemes that do not appear in any official budget or circular.”

‘Okpebholo Has Done Nothing in Agriculture’

Aziegbemi said the APC government had added nothing to agricultural development, contrasting it with the Edo State Oil Palm Programme.

“In one year, the Okpebholo administration has not cultivated a single hectare of farmland,” he said.

Aziegbemi defended the Museum of West African Art project, describing it as a world-class cultural asset.

“To reduce such a monumental project to partisan propaganda is intellectual poverty,” he said.

He accused Ize-Iyamu of using public statements to position himself for the Edo South senatorial ticket of the APC in 2027.

“Everything he writes, says or pretends to believe is simply an investment in that ambition,” he claimed.

Aziegbemi listed several instances where Ize-Iyamu allegedly betrayed political benefactors.

“No politician in Edo State has betrayed benefactors with the consistency of Ize-Iyamu,” he said.

He recalled how Chief Lucky Igbinedion “created” Ize-Iyamu politically, how Adams Oshiomhole “risked his chairmanship” to support him in 2020, and how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu backed him.

“His history is a straight line: use, benefit, betray, abandon. Edo people know this pattern too well,” he said.

Aziegbemi referenced comments made by Oshiomhole during the 2016 campaign.

He quoted Oshiomhole as saying Ize-Iyamu was “not fit to be governor,” “a liability to Edo State,” and “a man with a dark past.”

He added that nothing in Ize-Iyamu’s recent conduct had contradicted those words.

Aziegbemi concluded that no amount of praise-singing by Ize-Iyamu could mask what he described as the failures of the current administration.

“Edo State is in decline, and no volume of praise-singing from ‘Pastor’ Osagie Ize-Iyamu can hide the failures of the Okpebholo administration,” he said.

“Edo deserves competent governance, not opportunistic choristers auditioning for their next political transaction.”