‘COVID or not, we will raise the money we need’

‘COVID or not, we will raise the money we need’

By Nsikan Ikpe

Mr Osaze Ize-Iyamu, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Saturday’s gubernatorial polls in Edo State has said that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic notwithstanding, if elected, he would raise all the money he needs to execute the projects listed in his SIMPLE agenda campaign document.

Ize-Iyamu who is locked in a ding-dong battle for the hearts of the people of the state in what is a very testy contest was responding to a question at the Channels TV debate ahead of the polls scheduled to hold across the state on Saturday, September 19.

His attention had been drawn to the subject in the final round of questions by his principal opponent and incumbent governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, who is flying the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the contest.

According to Obaseki, who had worked as an investment and funds manager ahead of his becoming governor and was for eight years an unpaid Head of the Economic Team in the state, a simple check indicates that Ize Iyamu would need a whooping 500 billion naira in just the first year of his adminstration to prosecute the outlined plans.

On his part, Ize Iyamu asked the sitting governor to confirm the current state of one of the agricultural projects that the Obaseki administration was involved with on a joint venture basis in the state, suggesting that it may actually have gone bad.

Obaseki however debunked the claim, saying that the project was an ongoing concern that was fundamentally subject to the ordinary and regular vagaries of business.