Chief Bode George is a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview monitored on Arise Television, he speaks on the crisis over the party’s national secretaryship, planned National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting and the politics of 2027 general election, among other issues. ANAYO EZUGWU writes

The PDP looks like it is in total disarray over its NEC meeting; do you think the party can still be rescued?

As a very senior member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT); the responsibility of members of the upper chamber as we call ourselves is to moderate. When you have crisis within the party, like we have now, it is the responsibility of the elders, the custodian of the liabilities and the assets of the party to weigh in.

There are two arguments about the meeting for Monday (today). The chairman said there will be no NEC meeting, and stated there will be caucus meeting, because according to him, you need 21 days’ notice to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) said there was a postponement of NEC to June 30. There is both the Electoral Act of and INEC Regulatory Guidelines for political parties but everybody is interpreting it in different manners.

There is no organisation anywhere in the world you will not have crisis but your ability to close your doors, tell yourself some home truths, and reassess the areas of friction will be a measure of your competence to the public. I don’t see this as a breaking point. It’s a deep lesson for us because the crisis started from the last presidential convention of the party.

Some of us, you know, warned everybody that the direction PDP is going, the party is going to be completely personalised, and that is the result you are seeing today.

Now, let me read section 82, subsection 1 of the Electoral Act. It states that ‘Every registered political party shall give the electoral commission at least 21 days’ notice of any convention, congress, conference, or meeting convened for the purpose of merger and electing members of the executive committees, other governing bodies, or nominating candidates for any of the elective offices specified under this act.

‘Two, the commission may, or with or without prior notice, to the political party, attend and observe any convention, congress, conference, or meeting, which is convened by a political party for that purpose, for the purpose that I’ve listed above.’

That is the act itself. Now, the INEC Regulation and Guidelines for political parties, states that ‘Every political party shall give the commission about 21 days’ notice, through which a dedicated portal created for that purpose by the commission of any convention, congress, conference, or meeting convened for the purpose of merger and electing members of the national executive committee, and along going bodies, or nominating candidates for any of the elective offices as stated in the Electoral Act of 2022.’

Now, it was at the last meeting that we decided that the next meeting will be on June 30 because we want to discuss the issue of the South-East that recommended a change in the national secretary, which is an elective office.

So, both sides are now interpreting this differently, and it is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees. That’s why I got these two documents to read them. Both of them are mistranslating what should be the meeting scheduled for Monday.

Some are saying, yes, if we call a caucus meeting, call it a caucus meeting, it has nothing to do with getting any permission from INEC. Others are saying, what we want to discuss, the SouthEast issue, as regards who is representing them as secretary in the National Working Committee, must be discussed.

So, it’s a matter of the elders weighing in on Monday. We can hold this meeting without the 21 days’ notice and what we will not do will be to discuss the issue of the secretary. We can’t, because it will be an elective office, and INEC must be given 21 days’ notice. Everybody should please calm down.

Now, talking as the custodian of the regulations, the rules, the assets, and the liabilities of the party, I don’t see anything fundamentally disparaging on this issue. All those people coming from one side or the other, struggling to be the chairman of the party, they’ve not been able to have it.

Those who are tired can go to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and leave us alone. We need dedicated, committed people. Yes, it’s not a major crisis, it’s about disagreement between two people but leaders of the party will be there on Monday to sort out issue.

What’s your prescription at the moment and how will that meeting hold if the real core of the issue that most people have a challenge with at the moment is not addressed?

I have been in this party since 1998. We’ve had crisis. There is no political organisation, or any organisation, whether political or otherwise that will not have crisis. And this is self-inflicted crisis.

That’s what I’m saying. The people put their interests before the corporate interests of the party and they’ve been going up and down. Some are saying: I’m going to vote for this, I’m still in PDP.

Like what Nyesom Wike said that he’s going to vote for President Bola Tinubu, but he wants to remain in PDP. Look at the shenanigans going on in Rivers State and those who are looking for, or they want to go and form a coalition somewhere.

Is that the way Papa Alex Ekwueme and those founding fathers started the party? Papa Ekwueme was the chief convener of the party; two times he contested for the presidential ticket. He lost but he never shook any roof. He didn’t take down the house. What is this self-conceitedness? What is all this? That is why the Board of Trustees will be there as elders.

What am I looking for at the eighth floor of life? If I can’t tell them the truth; if you are thinking you want to be this, you want to be that, and manipulate the system to your advantage, we tell you to ship out.

It’s not a private enterprise of anybody. I’m talking now as a senior member of the Board of Trustees. What they are fighting on is so lightweight; Samuel Anyanwu is there or is not there, one individual. Yes, we know the processes are gone.

The zone had already nominated somebody but we have a process in our party by which such people can be removed. He’s a member of NEC and even if he’s removed by NEC, he remains a member of the Board of Trustees because he has been secretary.

So, I don’t see the personalisation. It must come down. I see the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau but I am pleading with all of them, those who still love this party, to please calm down. We will meet on Monday (today). Call it whatever name you want to call it and we will resolve our crisis.

Is it possible to save the PDP or people should just go their separate ways and off the lights, like they say in local parlance, so that we just know the PDP is over as we speak?

This party has a load of highly intellectual people.

You said the party has a lot of intelligent people that should be able to fix their problem. PDP has a good track record in the past but that is not the PDP of today. Is it not better for you people to off the light and forget the PDP. Probably, even you yourself can also move to the APC?

That’s a huge joke. The day I am off, I will come back to my house. Now, let me be very clear here. There is a system that was set up. There is a system that worked and should still work. But the self-conceitedness of some individuals, which you find in human beings, messed it up.

And the manipulation of the last presidential convention landed us where we are today. However, the elders of the party are still struggling to make sure we can mend the fence and get everybody together.

You know, if NEC is the most powerful authority after the National Convention, we haven’t had a NEC meeting for a very long time because disciplinary actions should have been taken about those who are carrying out illegality in the party.

You cannot have an organisation where people are openly and directly violating the tenets of the party, and you are quiet. No individual has a right to say, I am firing this or I’m firing that. It is that body, the NEC. So, it is NEC now that is coming back to address a lot of the issues you are talking about.

If you don’t have a NEC meeting, whether it was intentional or otherwise, I’m not a member of the NWC, so I can’t do more than what I am doing to make sure that we align along the tenets as envisaged and institutionalised by our founding fathers. No individual is bigger than this party and I am telling you that by Monday (today), call it whatever name, that meeting will hold.

Some are interpreting the Electoral Act in a different manner, while the others are saying, no, we can still hold a NEC meeting and not decide on the elective offices at the meeting. It’s only when you want to do your national convention that you need to inform INEC. So, the meeting will hold for us debate on issues and apportion blames where necessary, so that we can move on.

Manipulation of the last presidential primary landed us where we are today… However, elders of the party are still struggling to make sure we can mend the fence and get everybody together

Some people are saying, when we started, I was not with Atiku Abubakar. What did he do? During the last election, they manipulated the convention and that started the crisis.

And when we got divided, Wike started his own and we backed out. As Elders, you must be fair, you must be honest, and you must be committed and dedicated to the cause of the party.

And I can tell you that the only Iroko political party in this country is PDP. Anybody who wants to move on like a rolling stone, can go but they should leave those who are remaining because they will bring back the party. My interest is about the public, the electorate and the people who are watching.

Wike recently said that the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum does not even have the right to say that he is restating Anyanwu because he never went anywhere in his own reckoning. So, is Wike one those you are telling to calm down, and what is the guarantee that any meeting will hold because Damagum said that there will be no NEC meeting?

Let me tell you something. when I say that the PDP has a pool of reliable, responsible, highly committed and highly educated people, you think I’m dreaming. I come from the military.

But the party is now driven by people who can put money down. How many of these people you are talking about can put money down to run the party?

Look, it’s not everybody that is rich. Some people look at richness from the financial angle but if you have to compute the cost of your brain, it can be far more than the financial thing you are talking about.

If one have all the money in the world and don’t have the brains; of what importance would that be to the public? So, It’s not a matter of putting money or not putting money and contributing money.

I said that we have been having a lot of wrong managers and I won’t open up here but I know for real that that Monday meeting will hold. Umar Damagum did not say there will be no meeting. There will be a caucus meeting on Monday. He is calling it caucus.

The others are saying according to the INEC and the Electoral Act that we are not discussing changes or appointments of officers. So, we can meet without the 21- day notice to INEC. Others are misinterpreting it other way but we will sort it out. I have just told you I got these two documents, so don’t think that this is a party that only when you are rich, you control.

So many people had tons and tons of money but you still need people with brains. You need people that can be trusted by the public. It’s not only about the money in your pocket. Yes, you need money in politics but you need more brains than money.

Intellectual prowess does not win elections in Nigeria; it is money that wins, and that’s, perhaps, why Wike lays claim that he funded the party when it was down…

Wike is not bigger than the party as we speak and that is a fact. I don’t agree with you that Wike is the owner of the party. He’s an individual. He joined like everybody else.

So, if you start thinking that it is only because of his money that he remains a member of the party, wait until the NEC meets and take decisive actions on all those who have committed anti-party activities.

That is when you will know that the party is very much awake. We are not like a party owned by one individual. When did Wike join the party? Who said he owns it?

He has contributed his quota but to say that he owns the party is a fallacy. It is not right to say that he owns the party. And because the NEC has not met, that’s why decisions on a lot of issues have not been taken. No individual owns the party.

Which party are you referring to when you say a party owned by one person?

I am referring the All Progressives Congress (APC) because Tinubu told everybody openly that he owns it and it belongs to him.