By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

He did not make any pretence about his local content as the scheduled interactive session kicked off in an upscale Ikeja, Lagos hotel last Thursday.

A total homeboy, perhaps the only foreign content in Pastor Osaze Ize-Iyamu is his adoration for the immediate past English Premiership champions, Chelsea. Besides that, every other thing about him seemed to be programmed for Edo State.

A product of Edo College Benin, University of Benin, he has played his politics and business almost entirely in Edo State. In fact, the one year programme he did at the Lagos Law School was to him a ‘miserable time’ being the longest time he stayed away from Edo State.

“Unlike many of you who have had the opportunity of moving from place to place, I have been localized.   I was born in Benin.   My primary school was in Benin. My secondary school was in Benin; my university was in Benin.

Passion for the state

If it were possible to have done law school in Benin, I would have done it, but it was not possible, so I had to come to Lagos, and so it was a miserable one year in law school and even when I was doing Youth Service in Ondo State because it was close to Edo, I could afford to visit Edo as often as possible,” Ize-Iyamu, arguably the leading Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship aspirant in the 2016 said.

“I work in Edo, I live in Edo, and I have told my children, that is where I want to be buried.   So you can understand my passion for the state,” he said.

Many would, however, say that his passion is the cause of the pains some allege has been the bane of governance in Edo State since 1999.

Brain behind successful governorship campaigns

Pastor as he is popularly called was the brain behind the four successful governorship campaigns that produced the two substantive governors that have emerged in the state since 1999. He crafted and steered the campaigns for Lucky Igbinendion in 1999 and 2003. In 2007 given that he was still serving a PDP government, he had no qualms appointing his cousin, Prof. Omo Omoruyi to manage Oshiomhole’s first campaign. In 2012 he was the director general of the Oshiomhole Campaign which won the governorship election in all 18 local government areas of the state.

Pastor Osaze Ize-Iyamu

Classical politician: It is thus not surprising that Ize-Iyamu is normally identified as a classical politician who should take blame for whatever is seen as the lot of the people today. However, the meeting with him last Thursday was an eye opener for the handful of political reporters.

It was a shocker of sorts when he was introduced as a real pastor, lawyer, farmer and even more, a trainer of young farmers.

Besides the journalists were a handful of Edo stakeholders who converged at the meeting venue on the news that Pastor was in town. Some of them were subsequently scrambling to pay his bills!

So given his pedigree, it was quite easy to tackle him for helping the APC to power in the state. “In their first four years when they did well, I was in the fore-front of those applauding them. But in the second four years when I expected that they would finish strongly, what I have seen is a very strong disappointment.

Very strong disappointment

There are many critical areas in our state that have not been touched. Industries have not been touched, agriculture has not been touched, sports has not been touched, tourism has not been touched, housing has not been touched and then a few others. And there is no way you can govern the state and neglect these areas. Even the areas that have been touched, the approach, has been more cosmetic than anything else.”

Political movements: Undoubtedly, one potential embarrassment for Ize-Iyamu would be his political movements. From the PDP he moved over to the ACN/APC and is now back to the PDP. His response amazingly reveals a potential virtue in his persona as he observed that the two times he defected, that he left parties that were in government. When he left the PDP for the ACN in 2007, the latter was new in Edo State. When he again left the APC in 2013 for the PDP, the latter was at that time a no-hoper given the adoration for Oshiomhole.

“I don’t think it is fair to just stigmatize us as the usual politician who jumps boat at the slightest drift.   I never left because we were defeated or because we were not in government, instead I took what many people considered as a risk to do what I did.   And the reason is that my objective in politics is people-centred.”

Not desperate to be governor: Despite his reputation as having the most rooted structure of all the aspirants, Pastor Ize-Iyamu affirmed that he was not desperate to be governor.

Ulterior motive

“When I tell people I want to be governor, but I am not desperate, they are shocked, and I tell them that anyone who truly wants to serve cannot be desperate. It is when you have an ulterior motive that you are desperate. I want to be governor, but it cannot be at any cost, it cannot be at any cost.”

Given his past adulations on the outgoing governor especially in the construction of roads, it was interesting to find out Ize-Iyamu’s beef with Oshiomhole.

“One of my grouses as somebody who has always lived in Edo is that government money is squandered,” claiming that costs of projects carried out by the outgoing administration are set in secrecy.

“I don’t know how a project can be appreciated when the cost is not known and in Edo that is what we find today. People would just appreciate projects without bothering about the cost; even top civil servants are extremely reluctant to divulge it. A place where the secretary to government, chief of staff, commissioners cannot tell you the cost of projects, even when those projects have been done and commissioned, tells you that we are running a system that cannot be described as transparent.

“I would give you a simple example; a new university has been built by the governor in his village. I was looking through, and I stumbled on documents on the cost of a hostel for students, a 168-room hostel, and I found out that the cost was N1.6 billion. That means that just one room for students cost Edo State government over N10 million to build,” he said.

Ize-Iyamu affirms that his Christian experience is not politically motivated as he gave a touching narration of his Damascus Experience on the Benin-Shagamu Highway. A car crash sometime in 1995 was the turning point for him in his relationship with God which has so far blossomed and led to his appointment as a zonal pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

Christian testimony

Given his Christian testimony, the question of his attitude to the well-known debauchery of politicians was an issue. After all, he was a key man in the Igbinedion and Oshiomhole arrangements.

On that point, he said that his testimony has been his defence. “If anyone wants to do any bad thing, they know that pastor must not hear of it otherwise he would stop it.” Assertions that the Oshiomhole administration would sooner than later slam him with culpability in the indiscretions of the Igbinedion administration easily excite Ize-Iyamu even as he acknowledges that Oshiomhole was a big mistake for him.

“It was a big mistake and like you just pointed out, sorry I didn’t pray. I am not being malicious, even if I weren’t running, I would be very strong in condemning him because I am disappointed, I brought him in, all the money he spent we brought it together for him. So I feel very, very disappointed.”

What of the famed baggage that the Edo Government House is waiting to hang on him?

“I have headed offices, but let me also tell you that I am proud to say that I have never been indicted for any wrongdoing.”