The Edo State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday raised the alarm over plan by the National Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to seek $500 million from the Nigerian Export-Import (NEXIM) bank to finance the September 19 gubernatorial election in the state.

In a statement by its state’s Publicity Secretary, Chris Osa Nehikhare, the party alleged: “This outrageous sum will be converted to a loan and the burden of repayment placed on Edo people.

“The APC Federal Government has not been able to establish “anything” in its five years in power but has been responsible for the decimation and crippling of many it inherited.

“It is indeed ironic that while the ruling party prides (pretends) itself as an anti-corruption government, its governor who was caught on video collecting gratification has been saddled with the responsibility of delivering another governor. A lizard cannot give birth to a crocodile no matter the size!

“We advise the APC and its cohorts in NEXIM Bank to perish this criminal thought and allow the bank to concentrate and have enough cash in its coffers to face its primary assignment of promoting and providing loans to SMEs and other businesses so that we can grow our economy.”

According to him, the APC has only one goal, and that goal is not fighting corruption. It is advancing its cause.

The PDP, therefore, urged the Inspector-General of Police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate and prosecute all those involved in this great heist.

Meanwhile, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Edo governorship election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has assured the people of Edo State that his clarity of purpose and hunger for service necessitated his ambition to contest the September 19, 2020 governorship poll.

He said his emergence as the APC flagbearer would transform the decaying neglected infrastructure across the 18 local councils of the state.

Ize-Iyamu, who spoke through his Director of Communication and Media, Mr. John Mayaki, in Benin City, yesterday, also clarified the misattribution of his consistent ambition to desperation by few sceptics, stating that contrary to their claims, he is driven by the desire to reposition and restructure Edo State.

He said: “It’s sad and regrettable that my clarity of purpose is what shortsighted minds call desperation; it’s really a definite statement of ambition.