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Tag: Bode George

  • I Will Never Work With Tinubu – Bode George

    I Will Never Work With Tinubu – Bode George

    Chief Bode George, the former Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP, South West), has reacted to the allegations going round in the media, where it was reported that he said he will work with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu if asked, saying that he never made such a statement, that the media misinterpreted him.

    In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, George addressed the rumours that were circulated on Friday, the 2nd of June, where it was alleged that he said that he will work with Tinubu if he was invited to. He emphatically said that the statement was false, that the media had twisted his words out of proportion.

    “They asked me that what would I do if Tinubu calls me, and I said precisely, exactly, that if he calls me, I will pray for Nigeria. Listen, I am not a flip flopper, by any profession. I retired as a general, what will he be calling me for? We don’t belong to the same party,” he said, adding that he will be civil to Tinubu only when the court cases that the PDP filed against Tinubu and the APC are over.

    Addressing the members of the media who interpreted him wrongly, he said, “Let some of these people put on their thinking caps and stop spreading unnecessary rumours. I am not a green chicken, I can fight when it is necessary.

    “I did not say that, and I will never say it. I am not looking for any job, and I have reached the end of my own public career,” saying that he has given about 40 years of his life to politics, and he had finished his course in politics.

    When he was questioned about his rating of the performance of the military at 5%, he said that it was not true, saying, “I said openly, confidently, and I am repeating it today, that it was Buhari’s administration that I was referring to. How can I rate my own professional boys 5%?” He further said, “I told them pointedly that as far as I am concerned, the administration of general Buhari and the APC…. I told them that if I had to rate their administration, I would give them 5%, that they failed woefully. I am not afraid to say it, because you can all see the effect of the state of this nation,” saying that the country was doing very poorly due to the Buhari administration

    Speaking on Tinubu’s announcement that led to the immediate removal of subsidy at the end of May, rather than at the beginning of July, he admitted that while it was not his area of operation, he understood why Tinubu made the choice of removing subsidy immediately, as there was a “monumental hole” in the funds of the government, and that the removal of subsidy will help to fill the hole.

    However, he acknowledged that the sudden announcement and removal had caused hardship for a lot of Nigerians. “He should have sat down, done a thorough bred analysis, the impact assessment and what they will do, not slam dunk it on everybody.” He further referred to the situation saying, “This was a calamity that was far more than expected.”

  • Buhari a failure in eight years, history will judge him – Bode George

    Buhari a failure in eight years, history will judge him – Bode George

    Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years as a failure.

    George said Buhari did not live up to the expectations of Nigerians in the last eight years.

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

    He lamented that Buhari failed to ensure the security of Nigerians.

    He 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.”

  • 2023: Why I will not vote for Atiku – Bode George

    2023: Why I will not vote for Atiku – Bode George

    A prominent member and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bode George, has said he will not vote for his party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in next year’s presidential election, unless the issue of inclusivity in the party is addressed.

    George disclosed this on Tuesday morning while featuring on the Arise Television Morning Show programme.

    Recall that he had supported the call for Iyorchia Ayu to step down from his position as the party’s National Chairman, saying the lingering crisis bedevilling the party might cause its defeat in the 2023 presidential election.

    “Until this party returns to the founding fathers’ principles of unity, with equity, fairness and justice being the pedestal for any political decision taken in this party, and ensuring broad-mindedness to accommodate the concerns of all zones in this country, PDP becomes vulnerable to disaster in the 2023 elections,” he had said.

    While re-stating his earlier stance, the PDP chieftain said he would not vote for Atiku in the forthcoming election unless the issue of inclusivity in the party is addressed.

    “I will not vote for the presidential candidate of our party. Until the issue of inclusivity is addressed. Let them sit down, and think over it. It is not negotiable; every Nigerian is important for this election.”

  • 2023: Atiku’s Candidacy against PDP’s Constitution – Bode George

    2023: Atiku’s Candidacy against PDP’s Constitution – Bode George

    A member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Bode George, yesterday said if the party had stuck religiously to the principle of zoning as entrenched in its Constitution, its 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, would not have become its flag bearer.

    George, a former military governor of Ondo State, who spoke on Arise News, said the former vice president was allowed to contest, and eventually won the presidential ticket based on an in-house agreement that opposed the provision of the party’s constitution.
    He said, “On the issue of constitutionality, I referred you to the fact that our party’s constitution explicitly states and I quote: ‘there will be zoning and rotation of elective offices and party offices’ and if we had stuck rigidly to that, there was no chance for Atiku to have emerged as the presidential candidate.”
    George also lambasted those faulting the calls for the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu.

    There are growing calls among the PDP stalwarts spearheaded by Wike, asking Ayu to step down from the position to allow peace and stability in the party.
    The former Ondo State military administrator had during a recent press conference in Lagos called for Ayu’s resignation while making a case for the position to be filled by a southerner.

    Defending his call for Ayu’s resignation yesterday on Arise News, George said it was surprising that some party members were advocating for the anti-Ayu group to respect the constitutional provision that supports a new chairman to emerge from the same zone as Ayu even if he (Ayu) resigns.
    The elder statesman explained that if the party members could abandon the constitution and allow all zones to contest, when in fairness, the presidency should have been zoned to another region aside from the North, then the same can apply to Ayu’s situation for another chairman to come from the South.
    He said: “So, when it suits you, you can refer to the constitution and when it doesn’t suit you, you can back away from the constitution. If we all on moral suasion purpose, and during a family discussion we agreed that look, people have been canvassing, spending money and going round from the last six months and since there was no definitive selection or zoning of whether it should come from the North, South, West or East, let us allow this to go now, the same principle is what will happen for Ayu.

    “If we could accept the issue (sideline constitution provision) for a presidential candidate to come from any zone, which is against what is in our constitution, then what is good for the goose is good for the gander. On this premise (Ayu’s resignation), we can do that again. Allow us for this period to do that because no matter what happens, at the end of the election, whether we win or we don’t win, there will be a convention to revisit the whole thing about these positions.
    “They (those backing Ayu’s chairmanship) are making it look as if it is rigidity. We bent the constitution based on moral suasion purposes, justice, and equity to allow all the zones to contest and now when the same issue comes up to allow the south to produce the national chairman, they are now saying no, it will go against the constitution.

    “It is true it will go against the constitution. But they forget there was a provision for the zoning of the presidential candidate in the constitution too but we abandoned that for unity and peace, we allowed everyone to contest and if we were able to do that at that time, what is different now?”
    George also went down memory lane on the history of the PDP regarding power rotation: “I’m looking at the thought processes of the founding fathers of our party. They gathered in 1998 and intentionally looked at the problems that have beset this nation called Nigeria. They came out with a suggested solution that we should divide Nigeria into six geo-political zones because in the First Republic, they had the majority tribes and their way and their say. Minority tribes were just on-lookers; same in the North and same in the South.

    “That created that friction that led us to all kinds coups and counter coups and the civil war and the incursion of the military into government It took all those into consideration and came up with this solution that said ‘look, let us divide Nigeria into six geo-political zones’ and there are also six top positions in this country.
    “The positions are: the presidency, the vice presidency, the Senate presidency, the Speakership, Secretary to Government and the National Chairman of the party.”

    He said there are six zones and six positions and that each zone would have one of these six top positions.
    “In other words, you have removed the friction, the anger in people that ‘are we just mere onlookers in the management of our country’ and that after every eight years, all the three positions in the North will come down to the South and the three positions in the South will go to the North.
    “If you look at it, number one is the presidency, number six is the chairman of the party and so number one and number six cannot be from the same zone for balancing act. The party is woven into the executive, the legislative arm and the party. It was a brilliant concept and that was what gave us the opportunity to stabilise the country for almost 16 years.

    “Here we are again going into it and some people said there was no need for zoning anymore and that shocked me. In fact, the need to have zoning is more important now than in 1999. Maybe some of these people don’t understand the concept that led to the thought processes of our founding fathers.”