I'm not desperate in my Gubernatorial ambition- Ize Iyamu

The All Progressives Congress candidate in the upcoming Edo State Gubernatorial election, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, says he is not desperate in his bid to become the next governor of the state.

Ize-Iyamu had earlier vied for the office in 2016 as a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but was defeated by Godwin Obaseki, incumbent governor, who was the then APC candidate.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, the clergyman said anyone who has genuine leadership intentions should not be desperate to acquire leadership position.

The pastor further added that if he is cheated in the polls via rigging, he would seek redress with the courts and not resort to violence

“A man who genuinely wants to serve cannot be desperate. It is not compulsory that I should be the governor. If God wills, I will win. I assure you that if I lose the election, the worst that can happen is that I will go to court but I won’t resort to violence. We have warned our supporters against violence,” he said.

“Ours is a genuine roadmap to transform our state from its present unacceptable condition of underdevelopment to an attractive state with a vibrant economy.”

He also enjoined the electorate to come out en masse and exercise their due franchise

“What they are trying to do is to raise alarm so that voters will not come out to vote to enable them to write their result. We want to assure our people that there would be adequate security on election day. Let them come out to vote. We don’t need to resort to violence because we will win all the 18 local governments,” Ize-Iyamu said.

He maintained that he would not be distracted by the opposition’s use of historical antecedents to undermine his campaign.

“Rather than talk about what they have done, they are saying ‘Oshiomhole abused you, now he is praising me’… Do you expect him to praise me when he was trying to sell a bad market? That was the only way to sell a bad market.

“He (Oshiomhole) wanted to distract me and he succeeded. This time around, I won’t be distracted, I will market my agenda” he said.