CHIEF Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in this interview, wants two of the main actors in the crisis rocking the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former VP Atiku Abubakar and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyeson Wike, to be called to order now, or else the party loses all in the 2027 general elections.
George, a top leader of the PDP in Lagos State, also speaks on the ‘madness” in the state chapter of the party, saying “they are paying for working for President Tinubu”, among other issues in the polity. Excerpts:
Can you share your thoughts on this latest crisis in your party?
I was part of the (PDP BOT) meeting because I was able to join them via zoom. And I have always stated that when you have a problem, if you don’t arrest it on time, it will become cancerous. It will almost consume everybody. I believe the stage in which we are, whatever is happening between the two secretaries, Samuel Anyanwu and a former National Youth Leader of the party, is a reflection of the lackluster approach to solving this problem. I was disgusted.
I was ashamed that this kind of crisis would get to a crescendo where our public image as a party was being eroded. It was a show of shame, very disgraceful. But I thank the members of the Board of Trustees because those of us who were online, somehow when the free-for-all started, when people were punching themselves and misbehaving, they just cut us off. So we didn’t see it again. But my take is simply this, the contentious matter is the young man, I don’t remember his name, a former Youth Leader who is now acting
Secretary of the party. He went to the Court of Appeal and the court gave him judgment that he was right to take over the position of the National Secretary. And the National Secretary, Anyanwu, now went to another Court of Appeal that said status quo ante bellum be maintained. It looks highly depressing and very disgusting when you look at the party, a formidable institution, a party that is like an Iroko tree in this country, being decimated because of personal ambition. It bothers some of us that started right from 1998. I have said that resolving this crisis at the midpoint doesn’t make any political sense.
Let us set up a committee and I’ve made my views known to the BoT. As the Board of Trustees, the custodian of the laws and the regulations, the liabilities and the assets of the party, we must be able to set up a committee to do in-depth analysis. What happened? You don’t solve a problem by starting midpoint and thinking, “oh, you can cover up the other one and you can do this”. All sides to me now, all sides of the divide are making us so angry. And what we were saying is to avoid a terrible public image of our party. People have started saying, “Oh, your party is dead”.
We say, “No, the party is not dead”. We can disagree without being disagreeable. We should be able to rise above this pettiness. What happened in that National Convention was the beginning of the crisis and, to date, all sides are still very deep in their trenches, firing salvo. It’s not going to help this country. And the national interest of the party must be much higher than the personal interest of any individual. And no individual can ever be bigger than the party. Let these managers rise above this. Let’s call a spade a spade. It’s drifting, and we are drifting very badly, like a rudderless ship. I will remain consistent in my argument. We must go to the beginning of this madness so that it will never repeat itself. And I am happy that the members of the Board of Trustees, the elders of the party, the custodians were there. But the good thing there was that they were able to manage the crisis. If we do not rise above that pettiness, it will expand. And this is
2025. By the middle of this year, (2027) politics will start. And we keep blaming the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“It is Nyesom Wike. It is this”. What has it got to do with the price of milk? Let’s get inside and sort ourselves out without mincing words. Nobody, no individual is bigger than the party. And the party is not a private enterprise of anybody. The essence of having the Board of Trustees, the upper chamber of the party, is to be able to sort out crises when they occur. That’s why in the BoT, we don’t do elections. People are appointed based on their experience, their contributions, their knowledge, and their standing in the public. So you heard what the acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, was saying, that there are some leaders too that are covertly intervening on the side of A or side B. No, please.
For me, we have to set up a proper committee that would extricate the mess that started on that Convention Day. And we sort it out. Anybody guilty of any serious offences must be dealt with. It is not a private concern. And we have no apologies. If you are a member of an organization, there are rules and regulations of what you should do. So, follow it. If you can’t follow the regulations, and you think you can manoeuvre A or B for your sustenance, then we ease you out.
The BoT has already set up a committee led by Taminu Turaki to investigate what transpired. Senator Adolphus Wabara (BoT Chairman) is talking about unity and discipline within the party. What do you make of what former VP Atiku Abubakar said that the APC is trying to destabilize the opposition party, harass and intimidate people?
Let me be very clear here, I was there (at the BoT meeting), not physically, but I was there. I joined that meeting via zoom. At the point that I joined, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees was still making his speech, so I wasn’t too late to join. So I was there from the beginning. Now, we got cut off by the time somebody physically pushed the young man.
I don’t remember his name. He was the National Youth Leader of the party. They were physically pushing him out, and I was raving with anger here. Because what on earth was going on, are we Agberos? With the experience, the age, and the commitment that we had had from the beginning of the establishment of this political party, it was disgraceful.
And my concern, and I must state it, had been that, look, we have to be careful because of the public image this will send. If you want to be a winner in a political setting in any nation, your public image is very
Important. Now, what are these people trying to achieve? If people are looking at us and saying, “can you trust this party?” Look at – you mean there is no – we don’t have any open crisis in APC? Of course, they do have.
They have never held any meeting, no National Executive Committee meeting. Abdullahi Ganduje, who is the Chairman, has been imposed, no meeting, no National Executive Committee meeting. So, it is not only us. But for God’s sake, we can resolve our own. Throwing tantrums and pushing issues, they say, “Oh, it’s the APC that is doing this, the APC that is doing that”.
We’re just trying to undermine the issue. We must sit down. All sides, as I have stated, all sides of the divide, both Atiku and Wike, we must be bold enough to tell them enough of this nonsense. The committee set up now is just to look at the legal implications. As I said to you, Anyanwu is saying, yes, there was a judgment that gave a ruling in favour of the former Youth Leader who is claiming to be the National Secretary of the party. And Anyanwu went to another Court of Appeal and said the Court of Appeal said, you know, status quo ante bellum be maintained.
Now, what is the status quo ante bellum? People are saying, yes, it is the status quo established by the Court of Appeal that gave positive judgment to the former Youth Leader. And that Anyanwu, if he wanted to do anything, should have gone to the higher court, which is the Supreme Court.
You said Atiku and Wike committed hara-kiri. I’m using your words. I can understand where you’re coming from about Atiku Abubakar but Wike is your man. You were together in the G5 Unity Group. So, which hara-kiri did Nyesom Wike commit and have you fallen out with him?
Let me be very clear with you. In the beginning, I said we could not wash our dirty linens in public. If you have a family meeting in your house, do you go to the marketplace to start undressing yourselves? I am a bona fide, committed, dedicated and faithful member of this party. It would be unpardonable for me to do that. If we have to appear before a constituted party committee, I would expose everything to them. But if I love this party, it is not the public domain that we open up ourselves. And that is why I don’t want to make any comments now. I am not a member of anything. At the initial time I was there, I took sides because I was disgusted with what they did at the National Convention.
If I tell you the role I played in going with A or B, you will know. But it’s not for me to say to the public. And that was what angered me. And when I got to the other side, and I saw what they were doing, I told them to calm down. If you are not going to calm down, I will not come back. And I’m not a member of either of them. Never. That ceased a long time ago.
You appear to also be part of those who committed hara-kiri, sir, because we saw how you supported Wike and how you said Atiku was a problem. What changed?
This is a misunderstanding. Let me now explain to you. At this age, on the eighth floor of life, do you think I will be involved with a load of nonsense? Something happened at that National Convention, and I was completely disgusted with what was going on. And, listen, I have said it often that I made my move based on the fundamentals that established this political party.
Why did you stop supporting what Wike was fighting for then?
No, I am not supporting anybody and that’s what I’m explaining to you. Listen, I had a meeting with Atiku. And I spent six hours with Ayu in his house in Abuja. He didn’t do what is right. And he was insisting (he was right). I said, “OK, if you, Ayu, made a statement publicly that per adventure, the presidential candidate comes from the North, you will resign”… And when the presidential candidate emerged from the North, he refused to resign.
I said “what are you talking about?” He said he had four years. I went to his house to convince him. Then I called Atiku. I said, “Look, talk to your brother. They are disrupting this system. That is not the way the
founding fathers set it (PDP) up. If we did that to you as southerners, would you accept it?” Never. And what is not good is not good, no matter where you belong. You must have the fear of God in whatever you are doing. That was where I disagreed with them. And I moved out. Then the Wike people came and said they were trying to resolve it. I joined the meeting. They made me a leader.
We sat down. In the end, they said, OK, now we had two presidential candidates from the South. I said “so?” They said, “Look, they believe that Bola Tinubu is the better person”. I said, “if you go out of this meeting and you talk about it outside there, I will counter you. You guys have no idea who this gentleman is. He has ruled my state. We know his modus operandi.
You don’t have any idea”. That was where we parted. It’s not a matter of jumping ship and looking for laurels. No. Since that day before the election, we parted ways. This is the truth. Why should I be (with Wike and co)? What am I looking for now that I will not be able to look at you in your face and tell you the truth?
How much faith do you have in the Tanimu Turaki Committee to douse the flames currently engulfing the PDP? Does he have your support?
Now, the important thing is this. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the cases presented before the BoT was that the young man, the incoming National Secretary had gone to the court to get a judgment. That is the bona fide National Secretary. Okay. Now, Anyanwu went to another Court of Appeal, and the Court of Appeal that he went to stated that status quo ante bellum be sustained. Now, what our Chairman is stating
is, “Look, let this issue be examined.
The legal issue, the status quo ante bellum stated by the second Court of Appeal. What is the interpretation?” That is all this young man, this lawyer (Taminu), because he’s a SAN, is going to examine. That’s all. Once he comes around to say that the former Youth Leader should assume office as National secretary, Anyanwu should back off. If I want to tell you to analyze what Anyanwu did, he was wrong, absolutely wrong. You wanted to contest for governorship position, and it is the Secretary and the National Chairman who will normally sign off on all candidates going to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and you signed yourself in. How could you?
What is the future of the PDP and what is the guarantee that the PDP will be a winning party in Nigeria and Lagos, your state, in 2027?
Let me tell you, and I’m happy I have the opportunity to state emphatically that the problem in Lagos is not something that I created. There are too many external factors that come into play here in Lagos. I keep telling them to allow everybody to hold on to his house.
You cannot know my house more than me. It started with Atiku trying to control here and there. How can they know my house more than me? That has been the madness in Lagos and you saw that they have been working for Bola Tinubu here in Lagos.
They are paying the price now and I told them that this last election would be my last battle before I take my leave. Any external intervention, we will resist it, we will prevent it and we will fight; even if it means we are going to decimate the party, so be it.
They keep causing crisis in the party and come around to blame Bode George, how could you blame me?
