Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has expressed disappointment over members of the party joining the new coalition on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a veiled reference to former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President David Mark and former speaker, Senator Aminu Tambuwal, George said it’s disheartening that those who have been numbers two, three and four in Nigeria’s governance hierarchy and were mentored by the PDP could make such hasty decision of abandoning the party.
According to him, those who have now abandoned the PDP should retrace their steps and return to the fold before it is too late.
George, who spoke at the Lagos PDP stakeholders meeting held to celebrate what he described as the restoration of the party, said those who took such decisions in the past regretted it when they received flogging from the coalition they joined.
He said: “There are a lot of manoeuvres and I feel disheartened that those who are foundation members of this party, those who have benefitted optimally from this party and who have become number two man and number three man in this country are leaving the party.
“I want to appeal to their inner thinking and their conscience to do a rethink on their move. Can you leave your father’s house because it is leaking and go and be a tenant somewhere else?
“You are a model and respected in this party. This same party mentored you to become whoever you are today. My advice because they just started is to take it easy. There is no way you can compare their congregation to ours.
“They did it before, and when they got beaten, they came back to the party, but it is a shame. I’m just advising them to do a rethink and get back to the party.
“The major issue of contention from their meeting has been that they want to have a coalition to defeat President Bola Tinubu. Everyone of them sitting on that table want to be president candidate.
“But by our planning and procedure, it is this party that mentored them and brought them to light. President Buhari, who ruled this country for eight years, where is he from? Is it not Katsina? Is he from Lagos or Calabar? Turn by turn Nigeria Limited.
“There is no chance by our party that somebody from the North will run as presidential candidate in 2027. That would be insulting the founding fathers of the party.
“Alex Ekwueme that led the G34 contested two times for presidency. He didn’t win, and he didn’t collapse the party. He stood by this party, and that is what you call God-fearing gentleman.
“It is a mistake on their part to leave PDP and so let them retract and retrace their steps and come back home because the same mistake we made at the national presidential convention is what almost collapsed the party”.
According to George, despite the internal crisis, Lagos PDP has decided to celebrate the restoration of the party.
“Today is a special day for us. For some time now, we have had a crisis in the PDP, and some people even went to the extent of saying that the PDP is dead.
“We are celebrating the restoration of PDP because for a long time, we have crisis at the national and that crisis at the national made us look as if the party is collapsing because when the head is bad, no matter your effort, the rest of the body will not function.
“But I am happy to tell you that the need for today’s meeting is the celebration of restoration of the party. This is very important. We want to remind the people that this Iroko party has withered the storm and it is remaining standing. So, I want to tell you that this party is reborn,” he said.
On the Lagos State local government election slated for Saturday, George said the party executive may have colluded with the ruling party to sabotage PDP candidates in its stronghold of Ibeju-Lekki, Agege, Ikeja and Amuwo-Odofin amongst others by not submitting their nomination forms to the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), for clearance.
He, however, vowed that he would drag the party officials who allegedly compromised the PDP candidates in their stronghold to face the law.
