Bode George calls for unity in PDP

Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has urged  members  to unite to achieve victory in 2019.
George gave the advice while speaking with journalists on Friday in Lagos.
He said the goal of defeating the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the general elections could not be realised in a divided house.
George enjoined party members to put whatever grievances they had behind them and sacrifice their personal ambitions and interests to ensure PDP’s victory in 2019.
He also called for repositioning of PDP in view of the mistakes the party made in the past.
“We must unite and work closely together for the victory of the party in 2019.
“We must put old things behind us and sacrifice our personal ambitions and interests, not only for the victory of the party, but for the progress of the nation.
“We must correct things quickly before the end of the year and reposition and restabilise the party for the battle ahead.
“We are not fighting from the government side now, we are in the opposition. We must unite more than ever because a divided house is a defeated house,” he said.
George said one of the mistakes the party made in the past was its failure to micro-zone the position of the national chairmanship to South-West at the last convention to elect officers.
He said the zone had never produced a national chairman and there were high expectations that the Ahmed Makarfi-led committee would give the slot to the region in line with the party’s long -standing arrangement.
George said with the eventual emergence of the chairman from the South South, the party presented the South West as if it did not matter.
The former Deputy-Chairman of the party added that shutting out of the South West in the scheme of  things gave the APC a field day in 2015 to ensure the defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
George urged the party to avoid the pitfalls of the past ahead of 2019, calling for the inclusion of all regions and members in the journey to the election.
He described himself as an irredentist PDP member in spite of all, saying his support for the party’s Presidential Candidate,  Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, could not be doubted.
On the relationship between him and the Lagos PDP Governorship Candidate,  Mr Jimi Agbaje, George said he had no problem with him.
He said though Agbaje erred by contesting against him for the party’s chairmanship at the elective convention just to stop him, he had forgiven him.
George said at the right time, he and some other elders of the party would be more visible in the candidate’s campaign to win Lagos.
The PDP chieftain urged Nigerians to make peace the watch word as the country journeyed into 2019, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the people’s will prevailed.
“We should all do our bits to ensure the hitch-free conduct of the general elections. We should eshew violence.
“President Buhari should also ensure that the will of the people prevails by ensuring credible conduct.
“Nigeria belongs to all of us and we should not do anything to plunge it into chaos.,” he said.
He said restructuring was a precondition for development and called for the implementation of the idea for progress.