Chief Bode George is a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview, he speaks on the implications of President Bola Tinubu’s emergency rule in Rivers State, revocation of Certificate of Occupancy of the PDP secretariat in Abuja by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and the crisis rocking the party, among other issues. ANAYO EZUGWU writes
The emergency rule in Rivers State has been described as an attempt to weaken the opposition parties in the country. What next for the PDP and the opposition?
I don’t have any iota of belief that this is an orchestrated self-imposed control by the President on a state that is predominantly a PDP state.
There are conditions; even if you want to declare any emergency or whatever. To me, what the President has done is the visit of a democratic Armageddon in Nigeria and we have to be extremely very careful.
What was the prevailing situation in Rivers? Was there general violence across the state? There was a dispute between members of the state House of Assembly and the governor. After the Supreme Court judgement, the governor addressed the state and said that there must be calm.
He even went to the extent of saying that he will meet the directives of the Supreme Court, even though the judgement itself from Supreme Court, you have had so many juries, you know, panels that have looked at it.
There was a professor, who emphatically stated that judgement was not right because there had been a judgement by a seven-panel member of the Supreme Court that this other one was by a five-panel member. And the governor made sure he addressed these people, talked to them. He was calm. He was civil. He was very humble.
Despite that, President Tinubu invited PANDEF and the Ijaw leaders across this country from Ondo State to Akwa Ibom. And he spoke with them and asked them, to go home and resolve this. Only on the second day, Wike addressed the press.
The truth is that Tinubu wants to grab Rivers State, but the way he is going about it reminds me of what happened in 1962 in the then Western Region
Where is that done? Once your boss has spoken, do you have to make any further comments that will aggravate the situation?
And then by the third day, he had issued an order that was not cleared with the parliament, that these guys should be removed and to be suspended and people have come, I’m not a lawyer, I wish I was, but people like Femi Falana and so many other brilliant lawyers in this country have come to see that you don’t do things like this.
You cannot sign a gazette and then you are now trying to send it to the parliament for approval. It should have been discussed and approved and then forwarded to you before you release it.
That wasn’t what he did. The truth is that Tinubu wants to grab Rivers State, but the way he is going about it reminds me of what happened in 1962 in the then Western Region. I have here the comments, on the speech made by Chief Obafemi Awolowo at the federal parliament.
You know what he said? He said before you decide to say that you will take over the Western Region because they declared the same emergency rule; he said: Mr. Prime Minister, I’m quoting him now, ‘what is a public emergency? What is a state of public emergency?’
This is Chief Awolowo talking. May I say that my view quite candidly is that a state of public emergency arises only when there is widespread violence in any part of the federation? Was there widespread violence in Rivers State? I heard the Attorney General saying, the governor demolished the House of Assembly building.
The governor replied that the building that he destroyed was for a revisit to rebuild it because it was already cracking up. They blew up a pipeline, so is this the first time they are blowing pipeline all over the place? Was there a widespread violation? So, why did you jump the gun? And this is a state controlled by the opposition.
What are we now saying for the future? I want to advise, Mr. President, you can only define and know a crisis when it starts. You don’t know how it would end. I want to beg you, and I want to beg Nigerians, this is a revisitation of democratic Armageddon. Let us be careful.
How does this weaken the respect for the rule of law as we look forward to the 2027 elections?
I want to advise also that all those people who are jostling to be president of this country; a rolling stone gathers no moisture. All those people who are saying, oh, we are going to set up another mega party.
Is there any one of them who is not ambitious to be president of Nigeria? Is that the real approach to solving this problem? For me, it started like a little mess at our national convention.
Some of us advised that this party is not a private fiefdom. It’s not a private enterprise for anybody. Nobody listened. And then Wike started on his own and he had gone beyond the red line.
Let me tell you, I am praying that this month of Ramadan as well as the month of Lent, when the spirit of the Almighty God is blowing through Nigeria, I want to plead with our people, be prayerful. Let us submit ourselves to the teachings of the Almighty God and embrace them.
Let me tell you, the 1962 crisis led us to the first coup in 1966, the counter-coup in 1966, and then the civil war. People who had absolutely nothing to do with the crisis that started in the House of Assembly in the Western Region saw how it engulfed the whole nation and then so many of our leaders were murdered.
In 1983, during President Shehu Shagari’s period; the feud between Papa Ajasin and Baba Omoboriowo led also to the downfall of Shagari’s government. Have we learned anything from history? What is it in life? Is there any perpetual life? Is there anybody who thinks he can live forever?
Do unto others what you want them to do for you. When Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was president, we had a big crisis in Osun State between Ife and Modakeke.
The governor went to Baba Obasanjo to say, sir, I need support because the security situation in my state was getting out of hand. Baba Obasanjo sent only me to go and meet the governor. I went to Ife. We were in different political parties, but the approach was different.
I sat with Bapa in the morning. We had breakfast together. I told him I didn’t have much information or knowledge about Osun State. Give me one man, a knowledgeable person. We both, myself and that man, sat together and met the Ife people. I didn’t try to change it to a political advantage for PDP.
We heard the demands, we listened to the people, and we found a solution. Within five days, it was all resolved. A crisis that had been there for long, more than what you can think of. Eventually, they all agreed, and since that time till today, nothing has happened in Ife and Modakeke.
Do you think there is any nation that won’t have crisis, that won’t have a disagreement, or a party or whatever? All these groups who are running around for their ambition, they are making a monumental mistake and they are all dancing on the graves of our founding fathers.
Some analysts have said that the current president is simply taking a cue from our past leaders, like President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan. So, what is the big deal, so to speak, in what the president has done, seeing that the PDP under its administration also did the same?
Do you know the difference? Let me start with Jonathan. No single elected member in the Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states was removed.
Yes, there was violence across the states, people were being murdered, school children were being abducted, there was a breakdown of law and order, but he did not remove any governor. Now, Tinubu has added another clause to the constitution.
But President Obasanjo did suspend Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State… Yes, he suspended Dariye, and when you look deeper into it, the crisis came up. Dariye was a member of our party. He was a governor in Plateau State and belonged to PDP. So, he was not undermining an opposition party. The hue and cry came from the people of Plateau State. So, it’s a completely different ball game. I have asked; what is the violence?
Where is the wreck in Rivers that will prompt Tinubu to say, he is suspending an elected person? Our constitution has stated clearly that you have no right. It’s unconstitutional for you to suspend an elected governor and an elected member of the Assembly, and they should report now to you, to the cabinet office.
What is this charade? It is not acceptable. You know what it reminds me? He is now behaving like a military president. The judiciary, the executive and the legislative arms are independent bodies and equal in powers.
What are we seeing, the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau? What are we doing for God’s sake? Tinubu, please, you have to be extremely careful. I’ve told you, everything that is happening today happened before 1962. You should take the speech read by Baba Awolowo in the parliament.
It was as if he was a soothsayer. And I want to plead with Rivers people, both the mainland and the riverine people, be resilient, be quiet. Don’t be violent. Put a shame on what they have called you. Put a shame on them by remaining perfectly submissive to the goodness of the almighty God. Please, don’t create any violence.
Some people would also say that PDP’s threats are not external but internal and that the cracks are within. How are you managing what some people might even describe as Nyesom Wike’s dual status right now?
Let me tell you something. When the crisis started in the PDP, they invited me as an elder to join the G5 governors and some other elders. I did but we fell out when we found that some of the things
There is no political party like PDP. We still have our structure…The All Progressives Congress (APC) is a congregation of strange bedfellows
they are doing do not fall in line with the dictates of the party. And what Wike just did is completely unacceptable in any civilized situation.
I He has crossed the red line. Do you know why? During this same period of trying to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State, he revoked the Certificate of Occupancy of our party’s secretariat. I want him to listen to me very carefully because he’s like my political son.
It’s like you come from your community, and from that community, your home, your home village was there. Suddenly, you now became the local government chairman of that community.
And the first exercise you did officially is to go revoke the Certificate of Occupancy of your father’s house, the house that produced you and the house where you got all kinds of things. What is the amount of money we owe, N7.2 million?
It would have been more honourable if he put his hand in his pocket, and said, yes, you owe this, but I’m going to pay it because I am a thoroughbred son of the soil. I am a child of that house. It is that house that gave him the ticket to be chairman of the local government, made him the chief of staff to the governor, made him a minister, and became governor for eight years. Is that the way to say thank you?
Based on what you’ve just said, would you then say that in his actions and through what he has done, Wike has disowned his party as a result of political preferences?
Absolutely! What else? That’s what I said. As a general, I’m saying he has crossed the red line. Once you cross the red line, what are you looking for? The party has to met. We have to meet; the leaders and members of the Board of Trustees. We own the party in trust for members of the party.
We own the assets and the liabilities of the party for the good of our people. If a young man has done what he did to say they should revoke the secretariat of our party, he has crossed the red line.
He has declared an open war. And it’s such a shame. We would be seen as being irresponsible as leaders and elders if we don’t take action. Unfortunately, like I said, when those people started the disciplinary committee headed by Chief Tom Ikimi, I looked at the membership. Ikimi, yes, he’s on Atiku’s side.
The secretary of that same committee is on Atiku’s side and they said I should come and be a member. I said, no, I cannot. First of all, Ikimi met me in this party.
So, I cannot serve in that committee. Secondly, the way the thing was structured was warped. Where do you start from? So, I’m pleading with our people, we should go back. Fortunately, by October or November this year, we are going to have a convention.
It’s curious how there were no dissenting voices in the National Assembly regarding the state of emergence in River State. What happened to PDP lawmakers? What happened to all the opposition lawmakers?
Why were they silenced regarding this matter? I am happy you raised this point. We are told that the voting procedure in this kind of situation, as we have seen in the developed world, is not by voice vote. I want to congratulate and thank some of our senators who walked out.
These are the true lawmakers because tomorrow history would be written. I have here the speech made by Baba Awolowo in 1962. It is historical. Now, all those people who sat there, was there a dissenting voice?
The proper thing will be for every member, which we had done before, i this kind of a situation, is not a matter of voice vote because the man who is presiding, if he’s biased, even if it is nay, will say it is not nay. And the House members, the majority of them were not in town If you want us to dissect it, let them give us the actual results.
How many people were on seat? How many voted, which is done in the United States? When it comes to matters of importance like this, you go one by one, you will vote, they will count. Not by making sure that you do it by voice, as if it’s not important.
A voice vote is just like something you can just flip up. This is so vital for the future of this nation. It’s so vital. The issue is that if he pays N7.2 million, he’s the one that is there and he said in 20 years the party has not paid. Do you mean he cannot afford N7.2 million to pay on behalf of the party? Even I’m not a minister.
If they ask me, I will pay for it. And then you go back and collect your money, rather than disgracing your family outside. That is unacceptable? And let me tell you, there is no political party like PDP. We still have our structure. The real Iroko tree in this country, the political Iroko tree is the PDP.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) is a congregation of strange bedfellows, and who are members of their national executive? Who is the national chairman? He’s acting, and where did he come from? Is he not from our party? Who is the national secretary of APC? Who is the national organising secretary of APC? And then come down to the zones. They don’t have any structure. It is the private fiefdom of an individual.
Where is the accountability on the side of Nyesom Wike and the side of the President?
The accountability will come. I am just a senior member of the party, a live member of the Board of Trustees. I have voiced my own opinion. I don’t own the party. No individual owns the PDP. The party must meet and decisions will be taken.
And with what I have told you, and with the attitude of the other side that created this mayhem in the party, all sides, as I said before, have messed up badly. But now one side has gone even higher and demeaning. What he did is so demeaning to the party. That’s why I said, let me set an example.
It’s like PDP should be like his family house. You said we owed N7.2 million and then you withdrew our certificate. The house that produced you, the house that recognised you, and the house that gave you whatever you are today, whoever you are on the national ticket.
So, the only thing you can do is demean them and draw the carpet under their feet? It’s never done by the civilized world. He has crossed the red line.
He’s telling you to go to hell. And the other ones are going, saying we want a mega party. We will resolve the crisis in the interest of the founding fathers of our party.
