…Admits To Belonging To Pyrates Confraternity
By Kolawole Ojebisi
As the governorship election in Edo state inches closer, candidates of the two prominent political parties are getting their powders dry in preparation for the battle of wits characteristic of electioneering.
The New Diplomat had reported how, a couple of days back, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Godwin Obaseki, allegedly tried to gain political mileage by dropping the name of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
They claimed Dangote had thrown his weight behind the second term bid of Governor Obaseki.
Read also: Breaking! Ondo 2020: Akeredolu’s SSG Resigns, Set To Join PDP
The claim has since been refuted by the billionaire’s spokesperson.
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Pastor Ize- Iyamu, in his own case has been desperately making efforts to clear his name of a purported smear campaign that dates back to his years as an undergraduate.
Ironically, Adams Oshiomhole, his current ally, threw the smear campaign on his way in 2016.
Against this background, Ize-Iyamu has reacted to allegation of pouring acid on a fellow student as an undergraduate at the University of Benin (UNIBEN).
He told an online television programme monitored in Benin City on Sunday that he only drew the attention of the UNIBEN authorities to the student’s plight.
Ize-Iyamu said that despite giving the affected student first aid, the university administration rusticated him for two years because the identity of the perpetrator was unknown.
The guber candidate explained that he gained admission in 1980 to read Political Science and changed to Law afterwards but did not graduate until 1986 because of his rustication.
Ize-Iyamu said, “When I was in the university, I was a member of the Pyrates Confraternity. At that time, we didn’t look at it as a cult arrangement but some people were already coming in with tendencies to create problems. We had this very confrontational group and one evening, somebody reported to us that they beat up a final year student who was also close to us and they mentioned the names of those involved, and we said no, this is bad.
“Don’t also forget too that I was a students’ union leader, very prominent in the students’ union congress. So, myself and some persons who heard about this complaint said let’s go and see the people concerned and talk to them.
“We went there and met with the people concerned. They opened the door for us and we were discussing the matter under a very cordial atmosphere only for some people to come in and before we knew it, there was smoke in the whole place and somebody shouted acid and was screaming. It was then I realised that somebody has poured acid on somebody and I quickly rushed to the security post. I brought them in and we took the young man to get first aid treatment.
“Of course, the school set up an inquiry, and the person that was affected admitted that I was the one who brought security agents and that I was able to take him in for medical attention. I asked who poured it and he said he didn’t know .
“He said he knew the face but didn’t know his name and nobody appeared to know the name and the university said since you people don’t want to mention the name, we are going to sanction all of you. Before we knew it, they expelled us.
“The reason they gave was that they expelled us for belonging to a proscribed organisation. But the long and short of it is that we were on it for two years till 1986 when the Senate held a meeting and said these guys have been punished enough, that if you look at the records , they were not the one that committed what happened, so , we were called back, graduated and then went to the Law School.”
Recall that Oshiomhole, as an outgoing governor of Edo state, supporting Obaseki of APC in 2016, had fired barbed remarks at Ize-Iyamu that he had been rusticated from UNIBEN for 2 years when he was a student.
Oshiomhole’s claim was meant to invalidate Ize-Iyamu’s claim that he had never been indicted of any crime in his entire life.
Oshiomhole, at the time had said Ize-Iyamu was allegedly rusticated by a panel led by Professor Itse Sagay for two years after he was alleged to have bathed a fellow student with acid at the UNIBEN.
