Chief Bode George is a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview, he speaks on the outcome of the recent PDP Governor’s Forum meeting, the crisis rocking the party and the planned coalition, among other issues. ANAYO EZUGWU writes
PDP governors have taken a position on the crisis rocking the party. According to the rules and the constitution of the PDP, is their position binding on the party and what is the implication of their position?
By the constitution of the party, these are suggestions they can make for the consideration of the National Working Committee (NWC) but the final decision lies with the National Executive Committee (NEC).
By hierarchy, the highest authority in the party is the National Convention, followed by the NEC. And, of course, the third line in succession is the NWC, which handles the day-to-day running of the party.
But let me congratulate the Governors’ Forum. They have brought so much joy to my mind because a majority of the electorate are already concluding that probably PDP is dead.
What the governors came out with has gladdened my mind and has reinforced my complete loyalty and belief that this nation will survive.
Most of the decisions they took are quite reasonable, and they will be subject to discussion at the NWC and finally by the NEC for approval. I mean, that is classic and I am happy, I want to congratulate all the gentlemen, who gathered in Oyo State to come up with the decisions.
On the issue of merger; how can a colossus be looking for a local political party to merge with? People will come and join us. Our doors are always open. We are not like the party in government, that is a congregation of strange bed fellows. They don’t even have structures like ours.
Who is their national secretary? Who is their national organising secretary? Who is their woman leader? Who is their youth leader? You don’t hear about them. But we have a formidable political lroko established by those loyal, dedicated and committed elders. So, April 14 will remain indelible in the minds of a lot of people.
Yes, they have made their suggestions; that’s a starting point for discussion and most of the decisions they made are reasonable. Maybe, we’ll have one thing or the other, or little changes here and there, but I am happy that we are heading in the right direction.
Is the PDP not deceiving itself because if you look at the election of 2023, President Bola Tinubu of the APC had 8.7 million votes, Atiku Abubakar had 6.9 million votes, Peter Obi had 6.1 million votes and NNPP’s Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had 1.4 million votes, which shows that PDP would have defeated APC, and don’t you think that this is a straightforward political mathematics with your experience?
What happened the last time was a self-inflicted wound. We shot ourselves in the head by deviating from the doctrine established by the party’s founding fathers.
Some of us warned, saying they were not crazy when they established this doctrine but a divided house will remain a defeated house. Now, all those people calling themselves mega parties, and who want to go and merge here and there, are all wanting to be president of Nigeria.
Who will give room to whom? Let us get back to the drawing board. Let’s get back to our normal platform. Let’s re-stabilize the platform and follow the rules as established by the founding fathers, and we will not fail.
So, the position of the governors is the first step in that direction. We have realised we’ve made a very stupid mistake in the last time.
Those who want to go to other parties and take up the presidential ticket can go. We must follow the procedure established by the party.
And we have learned a lesson. You see the way it has taken us. We’ve gone in different directions and a divided house will remain a defeated house.
So, this is the first step, and I’m happy with the position of the governors. We had, and I will repeat it, eight years of the zoning presidential candidate in the North. By section 7, subsection 3c of our party’s constitution, once power is in the North, after eight years, it comes down to the South. Who was the last president for eight years? It was President Muhammadu Buhari.
So, how would another person, Atiku Abubakar, who is also a northerner, take over the presidential ticket? So, they completely messed up the procedure and we told them that they would land in the bush. Now, we have listened. We have experienced it. The public too has been shouting. there is no proper opposition.
But with the step that the governors have taken, we are charting our route back to normalcy. Look at the way we were sent packing in Rivers State for committing no crime.
There was no violence there. And I remember what Papa Obafemi Awolowo said in 1962 at the national parliament, when they were going to declare a state of emergency in the Western Region.
Quoting him, he told the prime minister then: ‘Where is that violence you are talking about? I was in the Western House Assembly when the little fracas started.
If he wants to contest, I can’t stop him. It is his constitutional right, so he can go ahead and contest. But as far as the PDP is concerned, he cannot
Two crazy people were trying to disrupt the system. After that, the police arrested them. When he walked out of the parliament, the people outside the parliament didn’t even know that that kind of thing happened.’ So, where is the violence that Tinubu cited to suspend an elected governor of a state?
And I am trying to remind him that it was how it all started in 1962. By 1963, they had jailed Awolowo and by 1966, there was a coup and a counter-coup, which led to a civil war. So, why can’t we learn from history? What exactly was the reason why Tinubu told an elected governor to vacate his seat?
So, you don’t align with President Tinubu’s explanation for the state of emergency, and should he have waited for an escalation of violence in the oil-rich state?
Is this the first time this country has lost production of oil? Is it because of that? People have been stealing the crude oil there.
That was a very wrong decision. The same things Baba Awolowo told Abubakar TafawaBalewa in 1962 in the parliament; go and check it.
Was there crisis in Mokola? Was there violence in Ogbomoso? Was there violence in Badagry? Was there violence in Ajegunle? I want to ask Tinubu: Was there violence in Port Harcourt?
Was there violence in the pipeline areas? Let’s go into details, what happened in Plateau State, when Obasanjo declared state of emergency? The people in Plateau State said they no longer want Joshua Dariye. It came from the people who didn’t want it. Which other one are you referring to? It did not come from him.
This one, you said, oh, maybe security problem. Where is the security issue? Governor Simi Fubara came out, he went to appeal to those members of the parliament. He was preaching peace and he had addressed the Ijaw people that they should be calm.
So why did Tinubu disrespect the voice of the people? In war, when you say you want to be proactive, it’s different from reacting and sending everybody packing.
If you found an error in the decision of President Tinubu, is there any way for him to fix this, and what do you think he could have done to make things right?
Let me remind you what he did. He called a meeting of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the second day, Nyesom Wike addressed some people and said that the Ijaw people who are talking, if they do anything, he will wipe them out. The third day, the President had already signed the gazette stating that there should be a state of emergency.
He then forwarded it to the National Assembly, which did a voice vote. Is that normal? Is that legal? Is that rational? What was the total capacity of the Assembly at the time they took the decision? He should reverse it.
You can see what the sole administrator, who was my junior in the military is doing. He has appointed administrators for the local governments. He is also removing members of boards of parastatals.
Does he have the authority to do that? And he’s taking the budget to members of the National Assembly. Why can’t we learn from history? What is the urgency? If they want to take over the place, they should allow the people to take the decision in 2027.
Atiku Abubakar, alongside Aminu Tambuwal, Nasir El-Rufai and a few other persons met with former President Buhari, recently after which the former vice president confirmed that he’s working to other people for a coalition. On the other hand, the PDP governors are saying there is nothing like that. Is it that Atiku is on his own?
If Atiku is the leader of the party, he would have waded into the crisis in the party. The fact that he was the presidential candidate during the last election doesn’t mean he’s a bona fide leader of the party. If he is running for his private interest, which is different from the interest of the party.
You don’t think Atiku could be the presidential candidate of the PDP in 2027?
He cannot be. For eight years, the North held power, so there should be eight years of the South. That is the doctrine of the platform of the PDP.
I will not say he cannot contest. He can go to any party because it is his constitutional right. But if he picks the ticket of the PDP in 2027, that is the end of the party. I want to tell you that if he picks it by whatever manipulation as was done the last time, we will not accept it.
My party is in total confusion now, and these governors have met. They’ve put on their thinking cap. Let us go back to the way it was conceptualised by the founding fathers of our party.
That is encouraging. If any individual does not follow the dictates as established by the founding fathers of our party, he will not enjoy it. We tried it.
We sent a communiqué out that that was going to be the last time we would allow anybody from anywhere to contest. Section 7, subsection 3c of the PDP constitution is clear. It states that once the presidential candidate had been in the South for eight years, it had to go to the North.
So, is Atiku from the South-West, South-East or South-South? If he wants to contest, I can’t stop him; it’s his constitutional right, he can go ahead and contest. But as far as the PDP is concerned, he cannot. We have another four years for this thing to stay in the South. If you don’t believe in the doctrine of the PDP, stop dancing on the graves of our founding fathers.
Will you be happy if President Tinubu, who is your kinsman, wins the election again?
I want my party to win; kinsman or no kinsman has no bearing.
The British, when they left this nation, left two evils: tribalism and religious bigotry.
Look at what is going on now all over Nigeria. There is killing everywhere. We are fighting over tribal and religious issues.
