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Tag: Bode George

  • Telling anyone to leave Lagos arrant nonsense – Bode George

    Telling anyone to leave Lagos arrant nonsense – Bode George

    Chief Bode George, former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has described as “arrant nonsense”, recent calls by some faceless groups asking Igbo people to leave Lagos.

    “That type of campaign is ‘arrant nonsense’; it is ‘sheer stupidity,” George told NAN in Lagos.

    The retired army officer, who is a Lagos indigene, spoke on the sideline of an interactive session with the media on the State of the Nation, held at his office in Ikoyi.

    “It is nonsense. I say it is arrant nonsense. Why should we be saying that the Igbo people should leave?

    “We have grown with them here. I had known them. We played local football, local football together.

    “I think those who are proposing or talking about it are not Lagos indigenes themselves.

    “In Lagos, we welcome traders. Bring your wares, we look at it, we buy it, you make your money, we give you land to build. That is the culture of Lagos.

    “Those who are proposing this nonsense have no bearing, no family connection to Lagos.

    “I am saying it as a Lagosian. It is arrant stupidity. Why would you tell them to leave? They pay their taxes,” he fumed.

    George, who went down memory lane, recalled that Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, who is of Igbo extraction, became the political son of his great grand uncle, Sir Herbert Macaulay.

    He said that Azikwe, the first President of Nigeria, had joined Macaulay in the nationalism struggles before late Obafemi Awolowo and his group arrived from UK.

    “Why are you fighting them? Does it make sense? Lagos State was created since 1967. Since that time to now, the Igbo have had their contributions.

    “So, to me, such campaign is idiotic. Very idiotic. They should stop,” George cautioned.

    He opined that those spreading such hate were not Lagos indigenes but people who came from neighbouring states and were accommodated in the state.

    “They should just shut up. If they have a right to come here, why are they blocking others?

    “The Igbo have their own contribution to make.

    “They are buying houses and building houses. They are contributing to the development of economic activities in Lagos. They are most welcome,” he added.

    NAN reports that recent campaigns on social media, especially in the build up to the #EndBadGovernment nationwide protest, focused on asking Igbo to leave Lagos

    The persistent noise attracted the attention of President Bola Tinubu who quickly reacted by asking the crusaders to perish such thought.

    Tinubu’s response, which formed part of his Sunday morning national broadcast on the nationwide protest, declared that Nigeria had no place for such ethnic sentiments.

  • How PDP can win 2027 presidential election – Bode George

    How PDP can win 2027 presidential election – Bode George

    Chief Bode George, a former Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) National Deputy Chairman, says the party must stick to its power rotation grundnorm  between the North and South to win in 2027.

    George said this while fielding questions from newsmen during his address to the nation, titled “My Thoughts on The State of Our Country in the Last 25 Years: A Time to Chart A New Direction”in Lagos .

    He was  reacting to a recent statement made by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and PDP 2023 Presidential candidate that he would drop his ambition in 2027  if the party decides to pick its candidate from the  South East.

    Abubakar,who made the comment after a meeting  with the Labour Party Presidential candidate in 2023,Mr Peter Obi , said if Obi returns to PDP and the party zones the presidential ticket to the South East in 2027 ,he would drop his ambition and support him.

    George said power rotation must be  sacrosanct, adding PDP  should have learnt its lessons from  the defeat of 2023.

    He said: “Our party has a grundnorm. The constitution of our party as compiled by the founding father, Baba Ekwueme (former Vice President Alex Ekwueme) and his team will remain a guiding light.

    “We have paid a big price for not following the rule. We have made  mistakes, let us learn. It has cost us too much.

    “Section 7 sub section 3C states very clearly that the party must adhere to the zoning and rotation procedures for party positions and elective positions simultaneously for things to work well.

    George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) member, said that power rotation, as embedded in the party’s constitution,was to guard against any situation that might bring back the military to power.

    He said that the party’s founding fathers divided the country into six geo-political zones to capture the majority and minority tribes and give all a sense of belonging.

    “This is because the problem since 1960 is between majority tribes and minority tribes.

    “The majority tribe will have their way, but the minority will just be mere onlookers. That was the major cause of coups and counter coups,” he said.

    According to him, the party’s founding fathers came up with the idea that the top six positions in the land  be shared by the six geo-political zones for equity and justice.

    He listed the positions as  offices of the President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the party.

    He added: “They (founding fathers) agreed that every eight years, all the positions held by northern zones should come to the south zones, vice versa for rotation.

    “The party does not micro zone. That idea was very refreshing and what kept democracy alive then.

    “The moment we (the PDP) started tinkering with that idea officially against our grundnorm, that was what created  division in PDP.”

    He said that Abubakar’s micro zoning comment under which he would he would stay clear of contest, was not known to the party’s constitution.

    George said: “I want to appeal to him, in the interest of millions of Nigerians, and those who are still coming, to allow this nation rise.

    “The party cannot tell anybody not to contest because it will run foul of the members’ fundamental human rights ,but the party must definitively state that the number one is going down (South) or Up (North) depending on who has held it.”

    He said that after President Buhari had spent eight years, it was normal for lovers of justice and fairness to recognise that it was the turn of the South to use same two-term tenure.

    “If PDP had adhere to its grundnorms, the party will still be in Aso Rock Villa today.

    “This is because if you add the votes garnered by Mr Peter Obi of Labour Party, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso of New Nigeria People’s Party, and those of Abubakar of PDP together in the 2023 general elections, the PDP would have won.

    “I am praying, one is not getting younger, as long as I live, I want us to follow the Constitution that the founding fathers gave us.

    “But if we continue to manipulate things, I hope we have learnt our lessons because a divided house will remain a defeated house,” he said.

    On the crisis at the  Lagos chapter of the PDP, George said that it was not a big crisis.

    He said the problems at the chapter were being  caused by some individuals “just looking for positions”.

  • Not fair to blame Tinubu’s administration for Nigeria’s woes – Bode George

    Not fair to blame Tinubu’s administration for Nigeria’s woes – Bode George

    Chief Bode George, a former PDP National Deputy Chairman, says it is not fair to attribute all the challenges facing the country to the administration of  President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

    George saud this during  his address to the nation, titled  “My Thoughts on The State of Our Country in the Last 25 Years: A Time to Chart A New Direction”, on Thursday in Lagos .

    The PDP chieftain said an honest assessment of  the performance of the present administration could only be done after the president had spent some more time in office.

    George, a member PDP Board of Trustees (BOT), said  it  was wrong to look at the present situation through the prism of politics , adding  that the challenges confronting the country  were far beyond the confines of partisan politics.

    “This is not the time for political actors to be subjective in their thinking and actions because the challenges before us are far beyond the confines of partisan politics.

    “They (politicians)are now blaming the Bola Tinubu administration which has spent about one year in office. Government administration is not a hundred-meter dash race.

    “We will advise and condemn so that in a year’s time, we can assess the methodology and performance of the government. Pitiably, some Nigerians have resorted to a blame game,”he said.

    He, however, urged Tinubu to also come out and tell Nigerians the true position of things in the country.

    George said: “This is not the time to play party or regional politics. Nigerians have suffered enough and they want fast results.

    “This is the time for Tinubu to rejig his economic team. There are many Nigerians – from the North to the South – who can offer him economic advice that can turn this country around”,he said.

    According to him,Nigeria is often referred to as the Giant of Africa,but that the country has not lived up  to the  description since the return of democracy in 1999.

    He said that 25 years after the military returned to the barracks, the country could not be said to have fared well.

    The PDP chieftain said  that Nigeria could only regain its rightful place in the comity of nations  through the  collective determination of leaders and followers.

    “We can achieve this if we start to redefine our value system, to rejig and restructure the various anomalies that presently hinder the greater possibilities of the Nigerian union,” he said.

    He said that successive leaders had failed to  grapple with the challenges of nation building,adding  that the country was currently facing an existential crisis.

    “The excessive centrality of political power holds everyone down to an unhealthy indolence, strips the states of individual growth and development, disallows free-willing local initiatives, strangles fairness and equity in the larger Nigerian union, inflames tension and fissiparous tendencies”,he said.

    He said that the nation needed  to urgently do something about “our so-called federalism” which can be described as a ‘unitary or despotic federalism’.

    “Obviously, the Nigerian federation is skewed, distorted and should be restructured for equity and fairness to prevail,” he said.

    According to him, Nigeria can be a better place when all citizens eschew ethnic jingoism, sectarian bias and crass nepotistic agenda.

    He said that the 1999 constitution was not working and should jettisoned.

    “So, the earlier we have a people’s constitution, the better for all of us. We have been operating this constitution since 1999 and it has taken us nowhere.

    ”It is only a fool who will be doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result,” he said.

    Calling for state police and devolution power to federating units, George said government must prioritise fight against epileptic power supply and hunger.

  • Wade into Rivers political crisis, Bode George urges PDP elders, Tinubu

    Wade into Rivers political crisis, Bode George urges PDP elders, Tinubu

    Chief Olabode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Friday appealed to the party’s elders and stakeholders to intervene in the political crisis rocking Rivers.

    George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) member, who made the appeal in a statement in Lagos, said intervention of PDP elders was imperative to stop the crisis from becoming ” a national conflagration”.

    He also urged President Bola Tinubu not to see the crisis as a PDP matter,asking him to intervene to avert breakdown of law and order in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the State House of Assembly has been
    polarised since 2023 following the rift between Fubara and Mr Nyesom Wike,Minister, Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The crisis, which has led to several threats to impeach the governor, assumed a new dimension on Wednesday when lawmakers loyal to Fubara appointed a factional speaker of the House of Assembly.

    Lawmakers loyal to Wike had recently defected to APC.

    Reacting, George said the crisis in Rivers was a time bomb waiting to explode.

    Insisting that the oil-rich state belongs to PDP, George advised that nobody should sit on the fence and pretend as if everything was okay.

    He said Section  109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution states  that a member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if ” being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political Party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected”,

    George said that all the PDP  lawmakers who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) had automatically lost their seats.

    The PDP chieftain said: “They are in no position to threaten Governor Fubara. So, their plot to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor is already in vain.

    “Rivers people belong to PDP. Those threatening to impeach the governor are being remote-controlled by some forces.

    “This must stop because if Rivers is set on fire today, that may end this democracy.

    “We should remember ‘Operation Wetie’ which started in the defunct Western Region and eventually consumed the nation and ended the First Republic in 1966.

    “All the actors in this crisis in Rivers should avoid actions likely to cause breach of peace and breakdown of law and order in our country.”

    According to him, members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party should be the elders in the room, act swiftly and nip this crisis in the bud before it consumes everybody.

    He said that all the gladiators should also think of the collective interest of Nigerians.

    “Whether we are members of PDP, APC or other parties, we should stop issuing provocative statements to increase the tension in Rivers.

    “Any move that can truncate this democracy must be stopped immediately. Enough is enough,” he said..

  • PDP Chieftain, Bode George gives tips on how to reconcile Atiku, Wike

    PDP Chieftain, Bode George gives tips on how to reconcile Atiku, Wike

    A former National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) Southwest, Chief Bode George has given tips on how to resolve the rift between the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Nyesom Wike.

    According to Chief George, something must have triggered the face-off between Wike and Atiku.

    George made his position known while speaking on Arise Television, noting that Wike is not working against the party.

    George noted that Wike is a bonafide member of the party.

    Asked if Wike is working against PDP, he said: “That’s exactly what I’m driving at. Wike and Atiku just didn’t get out in different directions, something happened. And the party leaders must come down, do an in-depth post-mortem analysis of what happened.”

    Justifying Wike’s appointment in the APC-led government, George said, “Once party A wins an election, it opens the door to say, ‘Let’s have a united group.

    “When Obasanjo won the election in 1999, he invited people from ANPP, APGA, AD,” citing example with the late Chief Bola Ige who served as the Attorney-General of the Federation while he was a member of the Alliance for Democracy.

    “We can’t just have a Berlin wall to say that once you’re a member of this, you can’t serve there. The fact that you’re serving there doesn’t mean you’ve left your party.

    “According to Wike, he wrote a letter to serve in the APC government. He still plays the music. How can he work against the PDP? I don’t believe it,” George said, adding that “there are issues to be sorted out”.

    “I just came back from Ibadan where we had an elders’ meeting in respect to discordant voices that are coming out from Ondo State. People should get back to their various Local Governments and contribute their quota.

    “It’s unfair for committed members of the party to make such assertions in public. Discipline is part of the management in any organisation. What Pearse said isn’t correct,” he added.

  • PDP: Bode George not my political benefactor – Adewale ‘Aeroland’

    PDP: Bode George not my political benefactor – Adewale ‘Aeroland’

    Chief Segun Adewale, the PDP candidate for Lagos West Senatorial District in the 2023  elections, says  a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, is not his political benefactor.

    Adewale, popularly known as Aeroland, made this assertion in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos.

    He was reacting to  a claim allegedly made by George, also  a member of the party’s  Board of Trustees (BOT), that he (George)had been supporting  his political aspirations and had helped his political career.

    Adewale  said he was dismayed by the claim and others concerning him, which he said George made on national TV .

    Adewale, a former Lagos PDP Chairman, said: “Chief Olabode George’s claim of providing support for my political career is false .

    “The claim lacks any substance or evidence. I have hardly been on the same divide with George in the party because of our ideological differences.

    “Bode George was rather chasing shadows in the interview instead of addressing the damning allegations of anti-party activity.

    “The diversionary tactic of false claims of helping my political aspirations will not yield any fruit.”he said

    On George’s claim that he asked a candidate to step down for him in 2023, Adewale said that the candidate in question actively took part in the primary election against him.

    “What a laughable claim!Nothing could be farther from the truth about Chief Bode George asking someone to step down for me,” he said.

    He said that  George never had the interest of the party at heart ,saying while was busy pursuing southern presidency in 2023, supporting candidates of other parties, he (Adewale) and the party governorship candidate, Dr Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor) aligned with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate.

    He said: “Nothing could be farther from the truth about Chief Bode George asking someone to step down for me.

    “We rarely agree on issues since I joined the party because of his anti-party tendencies.

    “Even when I became the chairman of this party in 2017, he (Bode George) opposed me vehemently and protested against my chairmanship by mobilising his supporters to move to Labour Party”.

    Adewale said George had never used his influence in any capacity to give him any party position.

    He noted that he had to defer to George’s age and position in the party even when they had political differences.

    Adewale alleged that George’s style of politics was not progressive.

    The PDP chieftain  also said that George’s claim of purchasing the nomination form for his senatorial aspiration was untrue.

    He said: “I personally paid for my nomination form and I can authoritatively confirm that I paid money into the account of one of the Alimosho LG exco  for the same purpose.

    “I challenge Bode George to produce the transaction details of the payment for my senatorial nomination form”.

    He said that the recurring anti-party activities within the state chapter of PDP pushed him to contest for governorship in Ekiti State in 2018.

    Adewale said that he had worked tirelessly to build his political structure and spent his hard -earned money on it.

    “I have contested elections, spent personal funds even when I was not on the ballot.

    “Besides, what value will those that have never won their polling units since 1999, add to me?”.

    Reacting to the allegation  by some members of the Alimosho LGA PDP executive  that he siphoned  N59 million from  funds meant for the local government during the last LG elections, Adewale described such claim as unfounded.

    The crisis rocking Lagos PDP took another dimension when a forum of Aggrieved Lagos PDP Candidates in the 2023 elections instituted a suit against some party leaders, including George over alleged anti-party activities.

    The group ,compromising 24 candidates who vied for various elective positions and led by Adewale, called on the national leadership of the party to sanction and expel all those who worked against the the party in the 2023 general elections in Lagos.

  • Judiciary shouldn’t determine who won election between Obi, Atiku and-Tinubu – Bode George

    Judiciary shouldn’t determine who won election between Obi, Atiku and-Tinubu – Bode George

    Former National Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) Olabode George, has expressed displeasure over the role of the judiciary in electoral matters in Nigeria.

    The elder statesman said it should not be rested on the judiciary to tell Nigerians who won a particular election.

    According to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should be able to stand its ground in making the right decision at all costs, even if it takes conducting multiple elections to arrive at the right results.

    The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, on Monday, announced its readiness to deliver judgment on the petitions filed in the aftermath of the 2023 presidential election.

    Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are challenging the victory of Bola Tinubu as declared by INEC on March 1, 2023.

    George insisted that it is wrong that Nigerians should be waiting for a court to declare the winner of elections, warning the judiciary against taking away the rights of the people to determine election winners.

    “The most contentious issue in Nigeria today is the judiciary, it is one of the pillars of government,” he said in a press briefing in Lagos on Monday.

    Is it right for the judiciary to tell us who won or lost the election? What we understand by democracy is government of the people by the people and for the people but in our own case, it shouldn’t be government of the judiciary by the judiciary and for the judiciary. Is that democratic?

    “It is the will of the people that should prevail. If you discover any wrong, ask them to go back and conduct a fresh election even if it takes a hundred times. The job of the judiciary is not to tell us who lost or who won.”

  • Think twice before declaring war on Niger Republic – Bode Geoge warns Tinubu

    Think twice before declaring war on Niger Republic – Bode Geoge warns Tinubu

    As tension continues to build over possible confrontation with the military junta in Niger Republic, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olabode George, has warned President Bola Tinubu to think twice before declaring war on the Niger Republic.

    George in a letter he personally wrote to the President, noted that it is better for him to continue the diplomatic channel instead of embarking on a “needless war.”

    The PDP chieftain also warned that adopting the military approach could result in the collapse of the Economic Community of West African States.

    “We should think twice before entering another country militarily. Don’t start what you cannot finish. Niger is one of the largest (land border) countries in the world and also one of the poorest.

    What exactly do we gain if we go to war in Niger? What? So that people can praise us as a defender of democracy? When people are dying at home, do we need that type of commendation from anybody?

    “I am a retired General. So, I know that war is not easy. Please, don’t force Nigerians to engage in an endless war”

    According to him, Tinubu must be circumspect in his actions because he cannot trust the other nations pressuring him to go to war with Niger.

    “In Nigeria today, there is no food, no financial power to buy fuel, no light, no money. Nigerians psychologically stranded and people are really going through a lot. So, I don’t know what our going to Niger Republic with full military power will achieve.”

     

  • I will work with Tinubu if he Invites Me – Bode George

    I will work with Tinubu if he Invites Me – Bode George

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George has said he is prepared to help and work with President Bola Tinubu if he  consult him.

    George has been against Tinubu’s presidential ambition many times and criticised the outcome of the presidential election that led to his inauguration

    According to him, his feud with President Tinubu is not personal.

    George while fielding questions with journalists in Lagos, said he was open to working with Tinubu for the interest of the country, according to Leadership.

    He disclosed several times that he disagreed with Tinubu’s “methodologies of governance”, adding that he would leave the country if Tinubu win

    He, however, took another dimension on his disposition, yesterday, when he said, “If he comes and says look, what do you feel about this, what do you feel about that, let’s work together in the interest of this country, why would I refuse? This nation also trained me.”

    “The military trained me. There is no part of the world that I have not been to, training and doing exercises. This country trained us. So, we must be able to put something back to the system that would also positively impact on the younger ones, to put a smile on their faces.’’

     

  • Buhari failed Nigerians in the eight years that he served – Bode George

    Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) Chief Bode George  has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in office  as a failure.

    According to him, Buhari failed to live up to Nigerians expectations in eight years that he served as president.

    Addressing journalists in Lagos on Saturday, the PDP chieftain said history will judge Buhari’s government because it failed to impact Nigerians positively.

    George added that Buhari also failed woefully in the are of security

    The elder statesman berated Buhari for failing to deliver on his electoral promises of fighting corruption among other things.

    According to George: “My personal assessment is that he failed, not completely in every sector, but if you do an examination and say you must have a minimum of 33%, then you can go to the next class, but they did not attain that 33%.

    “I can give them maybe about 5%, even the 5% requires a lot of retrospection.

    “So it is very very disheartening and heartbreaking that he failed in his number one job, which is to guarantee security of lives and property.

    “So let’s put those promises now into his departure because that’s what will be written on the pages of history. Whatever a leader does during his time, it is on the pages of history.”