PDP chair: Bode George opens campaign office as Dokpesi expresses support

Chairman of Daar Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, surprised members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday in Abuja when he made an unexpected appearance at the opening of the campaign office of former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Bode George.
George is a leading aspirant for the office of the National Chairman of the 19-year-old party.
Dokpesi is also one of the aspirants.
The National Convention of the party holds in Abuja on December 19.
But at the opening of the office, Dokpesi said George is a leading light of the party who must be supported in anything he wants to do.
“It is not about Bode George. It is not about Dokpesi. It is not about the other aspirants. In the interest of the party, we must all support what is good. He is an asset to our party”.
At the event were former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe; former Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri; former Special Duties Minister, Elder Wole Oyelese; former acting PDP Chairman, Chief Ishola Filani, and others.
Dokpesi, who wasted no time in swapping his traditional cap for George’s faz cap with the inscription ‘BG’, lauded the contributions of George to Nigeria and the party.
“Let me thank Chief George not only for his contributions to the PDP but also for his services to Nigeria. My presence here is to give full solidarity to Olabode George. We rose from a meeting yesterday (Tuesday) and we agreed that this (contest) is going to be a family affair. He is a team player, very courageous. In 2019, we cannot succeed without the support of Bode George or any of the other aspirants,” Dokpesi said.
Speaking to the mammoth crowd that witnessed the office opening, George assured that he would be a team player if he emerges the winner.
‎He dispelled the fears in some quarters that he will be high-handed in the running of the party affairs if he is elected chairman.
George said: “I am not going to be an overlord. Somebody must emerge and whoever emerges through a normal process, we will support him. If it is the will of God that I will be chairman of this party, I will work with everybody. I will do my job to the best of my ability. We need a captain, a man who knows the written and unwritten laws of the party”.
The chairmanship aspirant also aimed some punches in the direction of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) describing it as a “congregation of very strange bedfellows”.
He said further: “You can see they won election but they are not together. They don’t have Board of Trustees”. George further disclosed that at the meeting of the chairmanship aspirants with the National Caretaker Committee on Monday, a proposal was made “to party managers, to allow for the formation of a body of elders of the party to address the unnecessary competition in the party.
“It is God who has anointed whoever will emerge leader of the party. You don’t have a second chance to make the first impression. My prayer is that our convention will be a carnival.”
Also speaking at the gathering, former National Auditor of the party, Architect Innocent Agbo, described George as a “team player who has the requisite experience to lead the party,” even as he called on party members to rally round him ahead of the convention.