Truly In Ize-Iyamu, Edo Will Get Two for the Price of One -By Isaac Asabor

When I read Olatunde Bello-Ishola’s article posted on the online edition of Thisday newspaper of August 21, 2020, its headline was, to me, a hard-nut to crack as I could not easily grasp what the writer meant by the idiomatic headline until I read through the article at night when I felt everyone has slept, thus leaving me with a serene environment. You may have asked, “What is the headline?” The answer to the foregoing cannot be farfetched as Bello-Ishola titled his piece thus: “In Ize-Iyamu, Edo Will Get Two for the Price of One”.

It is expedient to say that now that the article is well understood that it is incumbent for me to share the information I gained from the beautiful piece that was authored by Bello-Ishola, a writer and Journalist that is based in Lagos.

To copiously quote him, he in part said, “Don’t blame them. Who doesn’t like good things especially, when they are literally free? With Ize-Iyamu as governor, the state would also have his wife, Professor Idia Ize-Iyamu, an equally competent, cerebral and conscientious woman, as First Lady. Theirs is a pairing made in heaven and consecrated here on earth for the betterment of Edo people.

“For the past two decades, Professor Idia, a consultant orthodontist at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, had served as the unsullied force of hope and energy behind her lawyer-husband as he navigated through a successful private legal career and an illustrious public service.

“Now that he aspires to be governor of their beloved state, there is no scintilla of doubt that she would enhance and encourage his patriotic, heartfelt efforts and imbue him with the verve and value necessary to accelerate his wholesome and widespread growth plans for Edo State.

“The job of a governor requires domestic felicity, an impartial omnipresent sounding board and informed adviser, someone to keep him grounded and focused on his campaign promises, a spouse that would have extraordinary resilience and grace under pressure. They don’t come better prepared and positioned than Professor Idia.

“Here is a woman, who has expertly negotiated her way through life, charting her own course, blazing new trails while building a thriving career in both public and private services, which she has also balanced with sterling family life, more so as a doting wife and mother.

A 1992 graduate of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, she worked with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital from 1992 to 1993 and did her National Youth Service Corp, NYSC, at the Military Hospital, Bonny Camp, Lagos, from 1993 to 1994. She also had a brief stint at the Smile Well Dental Clinic between 1994 and 1995”.

Just as the writer rightly viewed in his article, the incoming First Lady was on AriseTV in the morning of August 31, 2020, where she was engaged in an informative media parley. As expected by many viewers, such as this writer, she discussed the Simple Agenda of her husband, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and the plans for Edo people. In her release, after the event, she said, “It was a pleasure to address issues; the healthcare system and the challenges facing Edo women. The Simple Agenda will treat issues of primary healthcare.

“A healthcare system is not about building hospitals, taking pictures, and then shut down the place. It must be made accessible to the people.

In Edo state, we have a very high patient to doctor ratio. At a ratio of 6:75,000, far above the recommended WHO standard. This is completely unacceptable.

She asked, “What am I bringing to the table? I cannot sit down and watch people die for things that ordinarily should not kill them. I am passionate about healthcare. The simple agenda will treat issues of primary healthcare, where hospitals will be repaired and equipped with doctors”.

She explained that the Simple Agenda of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is a document, which Edolites can use to hold him accountable having voted for to become the governor of the state, come the next political dispensation. She added that Edo people are suffering, and that a spectrum of the population is living among the poor, and asserted that the cries of Edo people, have stirred her compassion, to join hands with the husband to offer herself for service.

She assured that by supporting her husband that healthcare will be made available for the poorest of the poor, and that women will be empowered with at least 35% inclusiveness in government. She expressed concern about the women in state who are downtrodden, and asserted that it is their vision to properly empower Edo women, who have been neglected by leaders in the ongoing political dispensation.

She again assured that her husband understands the people and understands their challenges, and on that note said he will not run a government of media propaganda, but a government that will impact on Edo people.

On how her husband’s electioneering is being driven, particularly at the moment when every aspirant wants to outshine his or her opponents, she said that everyone is campaigning for Ize-Iyamu, and that everyone campaigning for him is a factor. She said, “Everyone is important, because he cannot win with only his vote. The former Chief of Staff to Governor Godwin Obaseki has joined our campaign, other commissioners, and appointees of this current government are also coming in droves.

So, it is a collective task and not about former Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomole. Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu will win with a landslide, because we are talking to the people and speaking to issues. The people are acknowledging that he is a moving train, with a Manifesto of Hope”.

It would be recalled that before her appearance on Arise TV that she has for the umpteenth time during the ongoing campaign assured that the ‘SIMPLE Agenda’ contained, a detailed and workable plan for doctors and solutions that would help to provide an enabling environment and build infrastructure that would generate employment and give the people a better life and livelihood.

As understood from Bello-Ishola’s view as expressed in his article, Ize-Iyamu’s candidacy is been boosted by a sound and solid professor, who is coming all out to give her husband’s governorship bid the best possible push and support, both at home and in the public. With the foregoing, it cannot in any be pooh-poohed that, “Truly In Ize-Iyamu, Edo Will Get Two for the Price of One”.