TELL Magazine

Like he vehemently denied in 2016 when the allegation was made by Adams Oshiomhole, the then outgoing governor of Edo State ahead of the governorship election which he contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the September 19 gubernatorial poll in the state, has insisted once again that he never poured acid on any student while reading Law at the University of Benin.

In order to completely demarket the major opponent of his then godson, Godwin Obaseki, now incumbent governor of the state with whom he has now parted ways, Oshiomhole had labeled Ize-Iyamu a cultist and accused him of giving a fellow student acid bath in order to demonize him in the eyes of the electorate. And with the duo of Obaseki and Ize-Iyamu back again on the soap box to canvass for the people’s votes, this time swapping political platforms, the allegation has once again become a talking point, with political adversaries trying to make political capital out of it.

Speaking on a live online interview programe on Sunday, Ize-Iyamu said contrary to the falsehood that was being peddled, he was indeed the one who drew the attention of the university authorities to the unfortunate incident by inviting the school’s security to the scene.

Telling his story, Ize-Iyamu, a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, said “When I was in the University, I was a member of the Pirates Confraternity. At that time, it was not the way it is now. We didn’t look at it as a cult arrangement that we had; but some people were already coming in with tendencies that created problems. And we had this group that was very confrontational; 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 student union leader, very prominent in the students’ union congress. So, myself ad 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 somebody was shouting and screaming. It was there I realised that somebody had poured acid on somebody, and quickly, I 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 enquiry 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. And I asked, who poured it? He said he doesn’t really know but that when we came in, they knew us that we were final year students; and they were also old students, and that we had a cordial interaction. But that some people came in and the person who poured that acid, 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 involved. And before we knew it, they expelled us.

“But the reason they gave was that they are expelling 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 really look at the records, they were not the ones that committed what actually happened, so we were called back. I graduated, and then went to Law School”.