By
Dr. Anthony Phillips
Stepping down as Nigeria’s President after eight years, Olusegun Obasanjo accepted to serve as the Board of Trustees (BOT) Chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). No sooner had he found out that the role and power of a President are not the same as that of the BOT Chairman than he quietly resigned and dropped the position. He ultimately withdrew his membership of the party and took up the role of a Statesman. Similarly, I have witnessed many party members who felt aggrieved and left the party for another. There are cases of those who simply left tl “siddon dey look.”
Chief Bode George, under the aggrieved Governors’ (G5) leadership, claimed to have accepted the defeat of their choice presidential aspirant, Governor Nyesom Wike. However, no sooner was the PDP nominee decided than the group set itself against the party, throwing tantrums and putting up all manners of shenanigans to embarrass the party and impose certain conditions for “inclusiveness.” When all these ploys failed, these G5 cohorts and their followers resorted to romancing the ruling party APC. This is most unfortunate.
Although their candidate lost in a free and fair primary election, which therefore makes the choice made by the party, irreversible, the group (under the guise of being aggrieved) grew wings and transformed into the opposition within. Irrespective of this legally binding choice of the party, the leaders of this group found it convenient to campaign against the party candidate, setting the tone for the opposition. Wike, the leader of the group, said he would not vote for any candidate who came from the same zone as the outgoing President, knowing fully that the PDP Presidential Candidate is from the North. Following Wike’s lead, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State too said he could not vote for another Fulani man as President.
Lately, Bode George also said that Waziri Atiku Abubakar, the PDP Presidential Candidate, could not be trusted to implement the restructuring the man promised. This is the same George, who in 2019 claimed to have worked for this same party nominee, Atiku, who ran on this same restructuring agenda.
Clearly, George cannot speak for PDP. He left the party many years ago spiritually, and he is only physically present.
In 2007, he and Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe tore apart the party, using the death of Funsho Williams as alibi.
In 2011 again, the exclusion of Lagos State PDP was imminent as there was no preparation by the party to contest the elections, a fact reflected in that year’s gubernatorial election, the worst result ever.
In 2015, when George’s group was not allowed to handle the election, it turned out to be the best election ever fought by PDP Lagos to date.
George’s group was by-passed in 2019 again. This was because their key elements were seen as a threat to that year’s election, and already negotiating with other parties like ADC, APC, and Labour.
With these elements, the 2023 elections of PDP in Lagos have been traded already. Their preferred Governorship Candidate (defeated at the primaries fairly) moved out to pick the Labour Party’s ticket, showing a break in ties from PDP.
Could George ever have been with PDP when his mentor OBJ is rooting for Obi’s presidential bid? It cannot be mere coincidence that Bode George is following Wike sheepishly. This is the same Wike who just confessed to having conspired with former Chairman Uche Secondus and other leaders in Rivers State to deprive the South-West Zone the National Chairmanship of the party in 2018. What a shame that George was one of the 2018 contestants!
George claims that the Rivers’ Governor offered to buy him off, but that he willingly withdrew without accepting Wike’s money. Could Bode’s claim be true? How about the bulletproof SUV recently delivered to him? To what does George owe this expensive gift?
Delta State’s former Governor James Ibori reputedly gave Bode the old SUV in 2006. Has Wike replaced the old SUV with another brand-new bulletproof SUV?
Out of the 36 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Lagos is the only state Wike dared to visit and raised the hand of the candidate of the ruling party against his party PDP.
This could only have happened where our so-called leaders have sold their bodies and soul to Wike or any other person ready to pay the bill.
He used to say, “If Buhari wins the 2015 election, I will go into exile.” He did not go anywhere. Instead, his wife still retained her NDLEA appointment as the Acting Chairman of the anti-drug agency under Buhari’s government before she got kicked out.
George, in the last two years, had been exposing Tinubu for the atrocities committed in Lagos State. Yes, this is true –and commendable. But ever since the emergence of Atiku as the Presidential Candidate of the party, Bode has not only gone cold on playing the voice of the opposition in Lagos, he has turned against his party by echoing the demands of the G5. Who does that? Only the Judases in our midst would kiss us and damn us!
Let it be known that Wike has only succeeded in joining together into G5 people who have made it their business to cancel this democratic process. Nigeria will go on with or without them. In the past, many people similarly believed that Nigeria could not progress without them. They are long gone but Nigeria still stands.
For the past 23 years, Bode George has been unable to win Lagos for PDP. Where then does he have moral justification to make demands of the national body? This is someone who has failed in his supposed leadership position.
So is Lagos PDP’s self-acclaimed Messiah unveiling as Judas? Time will tell.
ANTHONY PHILLIPS WRITES FROM LAGOS