Bode George to Ayu: If PDP doesn’t zone presidential ticket to South, it will lose in 2023; insists ‘Bayelsa governor bungled Lagos Congress’

Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has warned the party and the National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to forget the idea of ditching the zoning arrangement of the party, especially the presidential ticket for the 2023 general elections.

To the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, if the party wants to win the presidential election, the ticket must be zoned to the South.
George insisted that “the PDP will lose the trust of Nigerians if it goes against Section 7 sub-section 3(c) of the party’s Constitution”.
The PDP Chieftain noted that in the spirit of equity, fairness and justice, the opposition party must do what is just and right, which according to him, is zoning the presidential ticket of the party to the southern region.
He urged the leadership of the party to come out with a definitive statement that the presidency will be zoned to the South, maintaining that this is the only way the party can gain the trust of Nigerians once again.

He recalled that the founding fathers of the party came up with the idea of dividing Nigeria into six geo-political zones, which includes north-central, north-east, north-west, south-east, south-south and the south-west.
He explained that the leaders also took the decision on zoning the six top positions in the government, which are the president, the vice president, the senate president, speaker of the House of Representatives, the secretary to the government of the federation and the party’s national chairman among the six geo-political zones.
“So no zone, whether you are minority or majority, will go home without something to show to their people. But when you look at it like that, after eight years, all positions in the south will go to the north and all the positions in the north will come to the south.
“But they never envisaged a situation where you will have another political party that can produce the president, it wasn’t in their political equation. And you know we were always boasting that we would remain in power for the next 60 years. But the APC produced a northern President in 2015,” he said.
George explained that as far he was concerned, the zoning committee had only made a recommendation by saying the Presidential ticket should be thrown open, adding that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of PDP will still have to listen and feel the pulse of the people on the issue.
“When the National hears all the voices coming from the country, and they see that this can break or make Nigeria, maybe some sense will come into the discussion.

“Some people are arguing that President Muhammadu Buhari is not from our party and I laughed and told them that he may not be a member of our party but he is from the North.
“Personally, my view is that the PDP should make a definitive statement that this thing is zoned to the South, so that we will be seen as not only obeying the law of our party, we will appear before that lady of justice blindfolded with the sword and the scale. She doesn’t care who you are, the truth will come out and I am saying this for posterity sake.

“If we start counting from 1960, together with the military era, how many people have occupied this position from the north and how many from the south? We should stop counting from 1999, it is half-measured counting. The party must come out and be honest and say that this thing must go to the south.
“Though we don’t have the power to override our national Constitution which gives every Nigerian the right to contest for any position of the land except you are an ex-convict. We must be strong enough to tell the truth to power, that is the very fundamental of democracy.

“Zoning is the political spinal cord of the party, it is like that of human beings. If something happens to it, you are crippled for life. PDP is my party. I don’t want it crippled. So, the right thing must not only be done but be seen to have been done”, he added.
The PDP chieftain also expressed worry over internal crises going in various state chapters of the party as a result of the last state congresses held by the party.
He, however, called on Ayu to, as a matter of urgency, revisit these issues with a view to finding a lasting solution.
He warned that failure to adhere to this warning may affect the chances of the party in the states where these crises seem unresolvable, citing Lagos and Kano as examples.
George pointed out that looking into these issues and addressing them on time will prepare the party for the battle ahead.
He appealed to Ayu to swiftly put the party on winning ways by dealing with some risks that could mar the party’s opportunities of winning the upcoming 2023 elections or face impending defeat.
George, a permanent Board of Trustee member of the party, explained that the PDP can not permit the situation to fester in an election year in two most viable selecting areas of the nation, claiming the party situation in Lagos, Kano, Anambra and also Abia states were politically ominous.

He claimed the party’s congress in Lagos conducted by the Chairman of the Electoral Committee and Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, was bungled and also undermined by Diri and some unpatriotic party members, claiming that until the procedure is turned around, the party will be in chaos in the state.
George, who stated he had actually composed a personal letter to the national chairman over what he called political rascality at a caucus added: ”All we are saying is that the procedure is defective. We already agreed on what to do. Diri was there. All the party elders were there. On the day of congress, they only accredited three Local Governments out of 20 and after deceiving people to leave the venue, they now changed their minds to start voting. Exactly how do you know who is from where? I called Diri several times, he refused to pick my calls.

“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wrote a report that they accredited only three local governments out of 20. INEC confirmed that they counted only three ballot boxes, the thirty four various other boxes were left uncounted, no sorting, that as far as their procedures are concerned, the election is undetermined. Governor Diri proceeded to reveal some jokers as winners. He messed up everything”.