The Owan East Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State has disowned the former Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Pally Iriase, noting that the ex-house member has been expelled from the party by his ward and has no legal authority to speak on its behalf.
Addressing journalists in Benin City, the party members insisted that Hon. Iriase, who was sacked since 2019 remains expelled from the party and therefore lacks the locus standi to question the activities of the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki on behalf of the APC.
According to Hon. Sufianu Igbafe, a former Chairman, Owan East LGA, Iriase is an impostor, with a clear intention of creating crisis within the party.
Igbafe, who was Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, to former Governor Adams Oshiomhole, said, “Iriase is no longer a member of the APC; he does not have the right to speak on behalf of the APC; he should speak from his party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
I challenge him to show us the project he embarked on in the past eight years as a member of the House of Representatives across any of the 22 wards in Owan East LGA, which should be placed side by side with the constituency funds he received since he became a house member.
“He was duly expelled from the party by the people of his ward in Owan East LGA, Otuo. I have a supporting document to that effect; he was expelled from his ward 9, where he came from and his expulsion was properly documented. The letter covering all the process of his expulsion from his ward, LGA, to the national level, are evidence to prove that he is no longer a member of the APC since 2019.”
He continued: “Pally Iriase should be asked by Owan East and the people of Edo State why the General Hospital, Otuo is not functioning. He was the pioneer Secretary to the Government of Edo State from 2008-2011; it was after that he said he needed political independence that he was given vote to represent Owan East at the Federal constituency. He could not use his good office to better the lot of the people in his constituency; his office as SSG was initially in charge of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) before it was taken away, but he couldn’t utilize it.”
Igbafe further challenged Iriase to mention the number of youths he positively impacted with his lofty position as a house member.
He added, “There were couples of issues against Pally Iriase though he claims to be a performer. We saw recently when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) visited him seeking to recover the two ambulances he stole in the name of constituency project for a hospital that was not functional in Otuo; even the one in Afuze was traced to an individual not a hospital.”
The former chairman continued, “It will be so surprising to see a non-member of the party asking the Governor of the State to give an account of N250billion he collected as revenue in the last three years of his administration. Is he afraid because this was the same source, he collected his money from that he could not account for?”
“Pally Iriase is an impostor. Since, 1999, Pally Iriase, has been climbing from one political ladder to another; once a position is not in his favor, he prefers to turn it upside down. I challenge all those around him to prove his membership to us in Owan LGA,” Igbafe reiterated.
