A member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Bode George, has described former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and others who defected to the African Democratic Congress as exhibiting what he termed “existential imbecility.”
He, however, said the PDP, having weathered serious storms in the past, would remain strong and outlast all defectors.
On Wednesday, August 16, Atiku, a presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 election, announced his defection to the ADC.
Other party stalwarts, including former Senate President and now interim national chairman of the ADC, David Mark, had earlier announced their defection.
Following Atiku’s defection, many leaders of the party, including Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, said it would not have any effect on the party.
Bode George, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, said despite the exit of the stalwarts, the party remained an iroko tree and will weather the storm.
He noted that although an Iroko tree could lose branches, it remained solid after a storm, adding that an individual did not make a party.
“This party is an Iroko tree. When you get into the forest, when an Iroko tree stands in the middle of that forest, no matter the storm that goes, it stands.
Some of the lighter trees would have been uprooted and gone.
“The Iroko tree can lose one or two branches, but at the end of the storm, it remains solid and sturdy.
“I have been at this party right from the beginning. I have been chairman of the national convention and Director General of the presidential campaign.
“I have traversed the length and breadth of this country. I have snaked around this country campaigning. I know there is hardly any village where you will not hear PDP.
“So if you’re talking about an individual, an individual does not make a party,” he said.
The former National Deputy Chairman of the PDP also said the party was not the private fiefdom of any individual, adding that it was guided by laws.
“Our party is not the private fiefdom of anybody. You just told the public, the listening public, now that he’s been in and out of that party about three or four times. So what?
“He should remain as one of the founding fathers. If your house is leaking or you need to repair it, you stick in there, make sure that it is well-repaired and solid.
“Public perception of the party is more important than your private enterprise or your private interest. I have spoken to him and I’m still advising him. What are you running after to do?
“Because of the rules in our party? It means all you are interested in is that you want to contest as a presidential candidate,” he added.
Speaking on the rules in the party, Bode George said that once a presidential candidate emerges from the North, he spends eight years.
“After eight years, it must come down to the South. I didn’t write it. And if you think it is your private freedom that is more important than the corporate interests of this country, good luck to you,” he said.
Bode George also said that Atiku could have been the automatic presidential candidate of the PDP in 2007, adding that the person he had left the party to support was now the President.
“And I want to tell you, when Baba Obasanjo was leaving in 2007, Atiku would have automatically been the presidential candidate, free of any encumbrances. Why didn’t he get the ticket at that time? Ask him what happened.
“He headed out to his friend, whether they were deceiving themselves, all that went together at the end of the day, who is now in the Villa?
“He was in Lagos, he told us that he had to apologise to us because he was part of those who manipulated the result to put Bola Tinubu perpetually there.
“So, who is now in the Villa? We must have the fear of God in us, in everything we do in life,” he stated.
George warned Atiku and other defectors to reflect on the historical 1914 amalgamation, urging northern political leaders to allow the South to complete its turn of eight years in power.
He emphasised that power should rightly return to the North in 2031.
He stated, “I don’t want to say ‘good riddance to bad rubbish,’ but I am appealing, for now, to them—before it’s too late. What they are absolutely longing to have is a platform to contest for the presidency.
“In our own party, we have a procedure where you can contest for the presidency. Once it is no longer zoned to your area, you cannot.
“You know what they will call this in the pages of history in the future? It is existential imbecility. Well, existential docility. That is what they are exhibiting. Atiku must know that it cannot be you alone. Let him get down. Let him slow down.
“I am shocked that they want to jump on a ship that is already sinking. They haven’t even started. They haven’t even gotten any roots.”
George, who described the PDP as a party guided by rules and procedures, questioned the motive behind Atiku and other defectors’ actions.
He said that after eight years of the late Gen Muhammadu Buhari, the country should have eight years of a southern president.
“That is the way it was configured. That’s the way it was built.
“That’s the way the system of the PDP has been. If you go to our constitution, Section 7, Subsection 3(c), it is explicit. If what they are doing now—if it’s a southerner who tries to do that—there will be mayhem in this country,” he added.
The PDP chieftain blamed Atiku, Mark, and other defectors for being responsible for the crisis that had engulfed the party.
He stated, “The same people are the ones who created the mayhem this party found itself in that convention (PDP 2023 presidential election).
“On that convention day, David Mark was the chairman of the convention committee. (Iyorchia) Ayu was the national chairman of the party. They were also his friends.
“They manipulated that convention, and at the end of the day, the party ran into a crisis as a fallout. They can go with him if they want to. I want to see the resignation of all these other people.”
