DEFECTION: Ize-Iyamu wants Obaseki, others quarantined

The Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu Campaign Organisation has frowned at the way Governor Godwin Obaseki and his supporters disregarded social distancing rules meant to contain the spread of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic in Edo State during the governor’s defection meeting on Friday.

The campaign organisation, in a statement by its Director of Media and Communication, John Mayaki, also demanded that Governor Obaseki and all those who were at the defection meeting be quarantined for flouting the physical distancing regulation established by the state governor.

The POI campaign group also noted that Obaseki is now enjoying exactly what he tried to frustrate Ize-Iyamu of when he joined the APC.

The statement reads: “While we note interestingly that this is the same right the Governor, in his usual autocracy and abuse of power, tried to deny Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu last year when he returned to the All Progressives Congress through the sponsorship of physical and media attacks, and the institution of baseless court cases, we, as democrats and staunch believers in the rule of law, unlike Godwin Obaseki, hold nothing against it.

Read also: Ize-Iyamu faults Obaseki’s opposition to direct primary

“However, we observed with great concern the dangerous and reckless actions of the Governor and his supporters at the venue of his defection. Without any observance of the social distancing rules, or the use of face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Mr. Godwin Obaseki assembled hundreds of Edo youths that his administration failed to gainfully engage following his failure to create 200,000 jobs as promised and assigned them the demeaning task of singing his praises at great risk to their health during a pandemic.

“Apart from violating the guidelines of the Presidential Task-Force on COVID-19 on social gathering, Mr. Godwin Obaseki also openly disregarded the stipulations of his ill-conceived gazette which, among other things, held that no gathering of more than 20 persons shall take place in a single location.

“Consequently, to protect the people of the state and ensure that the work of the Federal Government in curbing the spread of the viral disease is not undone by the irresponsibility of a vain Governor who prioritizes politics over public health and human lives, we call on the Nigeria Police Force and other relevant security agencies to aid the Nigeria Center for Disease Control in the commencement of an immediate identification, tracing, and arrest of everyone present at the event for immediate quarantine at nearby isolation centers.”

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