Bode George
All
Progressives Congress, national leader, Bola Tinubu has been declared
unfit to governor Nigeria by a leading South-west leader, Bode George.
Chief Olabode George is a former National Deputy Chairman of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the national leader of the
All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu cannot be Nigeria's President.
In an interview with TheIndependent's
TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland speaks on the latest
development in the polity as well as his rumoured presidential ambition.
Excerpts:
The National Leadership of the PDP said you erroneously
misinterpreted the actions of the National Working Committee (NWC) with
respect to the election of the Lagos State executive committee of the
party. How will you react to this?
The person who said that doesn’t know what he is talking about. I
was one of those who started this party; not the G-34 but since 1998, I
have been a staunch member of this party. I was the first elected
Vice-Chairman of South-West. I spent over 10 years at the national
secretariat of the PDP. I have risen meritoriously from Vice Chairman
(South West) to Deputy Chairman (South) and Deputy Chairman overall.
They can’t teach me what is in the party’s constitution. If an elected
member in any structure at any level, be it ward, local government,
state, zonal or national resigns, dies or leaves the party, somebody
will fill his position in acting capacity. In most cases, that person
will be the deputy to the person whose position is vacant. The person
acting will not stay for more than 90 days. Then, the excos at the level
will meet and elect another person to that position from the same zone
where that fellow who left came from. So, what am I mixing together? I
will give you the party’s constitution so that you can read it yourself.
When Moshood Salvador left the party in an unusual circumstance, Alhaji
Waliu Hassan, the deputy state chairman acted in his place. Then, we
all met with the full exco. Four people contested for the position of
state chairman, Adegbola Dominic, Agbaje from Ojo Local government,
Okunola and another candidate. We had the election and Dominic was
elected. All of a sudden, they started saying that Dominic will only act
for 90 days and I said ‘what are they talking about?’ and they said I
am mixing things up. Let them come and show me what I got wrong. They
are the ones who are putting logic upside down because this issue is so
clear. Dominic comes from the same zone as Salvador and he was duly
elected.
We had to go to court. The leader of the party now in the
South-West, Governor Seyi Makinde was here last week to intervene and he
provided a suggested solution. He led former governor of Ekiti state,
Ayo Fayose and Eddy Olafeso and the South-West zonal secretary here. As a
party man, we listened to them. But I told them that I am not the only
leader of the party here To me, the disrespect is that you have an elder
who is not just a Lagos elder; all of them came in much later except
Uche Secondus who was there from the beginning. When I was Vice-Chairman
and a member of the National Working Committee, Secondus was chairman
of Rivers state chapter of PDP. My grouse is that how can they say that
the man whom we elected (Dominic) as state chairman should serve for 90
days? What they don’t realise is that Dominic has only one year. Let
them just exercise patience and allow him complete his tenure. Then,
whoever wants to contest can go ahead.
It has been alleged that the national leadership wants
Dominic out at all cost because they felt he is one of your staunch
loyalist. Do you also share this view?
Is the PDP a private business of anybody? It is a voluntary
organisation. What else do I want to be in the party with all I have
achieved? Let them go and do whatever they want to do. Time will tell of
their style of management and the confusion. Leadership is not
something you elect, it emerges. I haven’t attended any of their
meetings since 2018 when former President Goodluck Jonathan launched his
book titled, “My Transition Hours” in Abuja. You can see the total
confusion and mess. We are suggesting that they should go back and call
the elders to prepare us for the next set of elections. If they feel
they want to sideline the party elders and run the party on their own,
let them do it. Anybody who says an elder is not a fit and proper
person; he himself will become an elder soon. It is just a matter of
time. Those who were saying we don’t want elders to become this and
that, where are they today? A child sees herbs and calls it vegetable.
No matter what happens, I have said any day I quit the PDP, I am going
home because the other party, APC is not a political party but a
congregation of strange bedfellows. As for the PDP leadership, I don’t
want to fire back at them because they are junior to me in age,
experience and exposure. Let Secondus face me and talk. Has he forgotten
what I did for him when he left as chairman of PDP in Rivers state? I
had to go and beg late President Umaru Yar’Adua on his behalf and he
accepted. When you are up, you pull people up. That is the way I was
trained. When I assisted in pulling people up, I don’t expect any reward
or payback; I am a professional and I have my business that I am doing
very effectively. I also have a highly respectable, happy family. So,
what am I looking for again? As an elder, I can’t just watch and allow a
party we labored to build just waste away like that. That is why we
keep shouting that they should not destroy the party. They have their
period now and cannot be there in perpetuity. Secondus cannot be there
in perpetuity. As an elder, there are so many information that I have
and I know certain things are not right but it is not for public
consumption. That is the way an elder behaves.
As a Yoruba leader, don’t you think your contesting the
2023 presidential election against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu may be seen as a
sign of division in the region?
We have some elders that we meet regularly. I was away for a while.
When they read that they will be zoning presidency to the South-West
and Bola Tinubu will be contesting, they didn’t ask for my permission;
they said ‘yes, I must contest’. They said if Tinubu must contest, I
must contest. Am I not qualified by age, experience or training? I have
traversed the length and breadth of this country, I see the weaknesses
and strengths of every areas. It will be the greatest disservice for our
nation to have him contest as a presidential candidate. I am a true son
of Lagos. Of all the governors who have ruled this state, Tinubu’s
period is the worst. So, how can he succeed as President? He did
virtually nothing. The debt profile of Lagos today is so humongous.
After the debt of the federal government, the next is Lagos state. Is
that the person we should consider as our next president?
President Buhari was recently booed by residents of
Maiduguri during his sympathy visit to Borno state. What is your
reaction to that?
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