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PDP Chieftain, Chief BODE GEORGE
Chief Bode George is a big name in PDP. He is one of the foundation members of the party. And he has been with the party all these years. He has held key positions within the party structure. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the party. And he is currently at the centre of efforts to resolve the lingering crisis facing the PDP.
When City People visited him last Wednesday at his Ikoyi, Lagos office, the first question we threw at him was the state of the PDP right now. The PDP is the leading opposition party in Nigeria today. Once the question was asked, he sat up like the General that he is. He was in a pensive mood, with his right arm resting on his chin. But the question jolted him. And he began to explain: “Hmmmmmm! Hmmmmm! That is a very potent question. If we want to deceive ourselves we would say all is well. But I want to tell Truth to power. Ideally, I won’t say it all. But I will say all is not well. We are in a big crisis. We have differences. Yes, we would always disagree, but we must not be disagreeable. We can have differences, in opinion but we must come to a middle point where we would agree.”
“I always tell people that PDP is a political party, not a private enterprise. It is not a fiefdom of anybody. Every member, every card carrying member of any political party has equal rights. The way we manage ourselves will be a reflection and a conviction to the electorate, who are far more in number, to say these people in Party A or Party B, how are they managing themselves? Ok, this particular party is better.”
“As an Elder of the party, and a Life Member of the Board of Trustees, which is the Upper Chamber of the party to resolve crisis here and there, I will just say it as it is. But it is not a problem or crisis that is insurmountable, if we do the right thing.”
And what is the right thing? “I will tell you. We have a Constitution. Let me give a lot of credence, respect and traditional salute, to those founding fathers, to people like late Chief Alex Ekwueme. He invited late Chief Bola Ige. He invited Jim Nwobodo. He invited Baba Solomon Lar, Abubakar Rimi, Bamanga Tukur (The G14). He said let’s find a solution to how we would ensure that the Military will never come back.”
“After establishing the party, he tried severally to compete for the highest ticket, he never got it. Despite that, he did not disrupt the system. He did not work against the system. That is what I call Godliness. There is no way you will write the history of Nigeria and politics, that Papa Ekwueme’s name will not be highfalutin. When you try and it does not work, you need to try again and if it doesn’t work, don’t destablise the system. They all came together, they wrote a Constitution. First of all, in their mindset they knew the problem of the First republic and the major problem of the 1st Republic was Majority had their way and their say, minorities were just bare onlookers. You can’t get anything done if you were a minority.”
“I always tell people that when the British left power, they left 2 evils. When the French left the Francophone countries they didn’t let go the rope. Every Prime Minister or Head of State of the Francophone country were members of the French Parliament. And who is the Controller of all their financies? The Central Bank of France is completely in charge of all these Francophone countries. They are just fighting now to release themselves from the full control of their colonial matters.”
“In our own case, the British left us 2 evils. The first one is Tribalism. The 2nd one is Religious Bigotry. I always ask: What has where you come from got to do with managing the resources of the country for the benefit of the people. You are there not for yourself alone, for your family or your tribe but for the sake of managing the massive resources of this country.”
“Since the British left, we have not found a solution to these 2 evils. Alex Ekwueme’s concept was to resolve that. That was why they divided Nigeria into 6 geo-political zones. And if you look at those zones, they are mainly tribal cohesions. Take South-West for example, we speak the same language, we have the same culture. If you go to the South-South it is the same thing. If you go to South East same, North-East same. North West same. They now said there will be 6 top positions: The President. The Vice President. The Senate President, Speaker, Secretary to Government, and the National Chairman of the Party. No matter how large or small your tribe is, one of these will reach you. That gives you that sense of belonging. That confirms that you are not just an Onlooker. You are a Participant. And you must be completely loyal to whatever they are doing. We were not a country. They forced us to come together in 1914.”
“The big question I keep asking our people is why can’t we sit down and follow the rules as stated by those people?”
“That is the major problem that the PDP is contending with right now. Why should we change the rules half way through the match? The man who was President for 8 years, is he from Lagos? Is he from Calabar? Is he from South East? No. He is from Katsina. Ideally what should have happened? It should come down South. If we do that in the South, how will they feel? No quarrel. My best friend today, in this country is a Fulani man. There is no qualms at all about that. He is my brother. We have been friends for years. This is the PDP Constitution I am holding. Section 7 talks about Aims & Objectives. Sub Section 3C says the party shall pursue its Aims & Objectives by adhering to the policy of Rotation and Zoning of party and public elective offices, in pursuant of the principles of Equity Justice and Fairplay. Somebody woke up and said there is no more Zoning. Let us tell Truth to power. I didn’t write the PDP Constitution. This is the Constitution as ammended in 2017. It has not changed. It was signed by the National Chairman and National Secretary.”
“So what is the need for the battle we are fighting? Why are we saying it must be this man? We know, constitutionally, as in the National Constitution now, that nobody has the right to debar any Nigerian from contesting any election. We accept that. But our party has a Constitution. If we are going to war to compete we have to follow the dictate. It is the responsibility of the party to decide and say Yes, this thing is coming from this zone. The party’s position is well defined.”
“That is the real problem. That is the major problem facing the PDP. We have our Constitution that sustains Equity, Justice & Fairness. We have a stable platform. We don’t have to keep turning and turning. I termed this Turn By Turn Nigeria Ltd. Don’t shortcut it. Don’t think you are too smart. Don’t think it is a personal enterprise. Don’t think it is your laurel.”
“If you want to do that, then go and form your own party and do it there. That is what we are saying.”
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