Ahead of the 2023 general election, former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP), Chief Olabode George says the party must convince the electorate that it has the capacity and the ability to manage the country’s resources for the benefit of the masses.
Chief George, a leader of the party, on Wednesday at a press conference in Lagos while discussing issues affecting the party and the country disclosed that Nigerians are fed up with the ruling APC and are eagerly waiting for the PDP
He, therefore, appealed to all aggrieved members of the party to sheath their swords and work in unity for the interest of the country, while assuring that the problems confronting the party are not insurmountable.
He said, “Nigerians are fed up with the contraption called the APC but we have to convince them of our capacity and ability to manage the resources of the country.
If we don’t get it right, this nation will never forgive us because every day you wake up and look at Nigeria, where are we?
Armageddon is hovering at every corner and ready to descend on this nation. We have to be careful. At our party, we have people with experience and knowledge. We have people who have the gut and are humane.
I see our party as a human body. Is there any part of the human body that you can discard? Every part is important and that is the essence we must work to achieve our goal. Nigeria is in a dire state of total confusion. We must always talk and exchange ideas. We must discuss, agree and disagree on views without being absolutely disagreeable. There is no point in doing that.
We are going into the election year, and we have problems in our party but they are not all insurmountable. First, I want to appeal to all sides to sheath their swords. We are in the throes of a political journey therefore we must convince the public that we have the capacity and the ability to manage the resources of this country for the benefit of our country.
With all the cacophonies coming from all corners, I want to appeal to them to sheath their swords.
We can achieve more by talking no matter how heated the discussion would be, exercising our minds but not by throwing tantrums and statements that are absolutely unnecessary.
They should not be making statements of innuendoes and of violence and name-calling that can absolutely destroy this party. As an elder and member of the party since 1998, I want to appeal to all members of the interest of this country to sheath their swords and move forward. I have seen the disagreement and anger on all shades but I want to plead as an elder for us to go into the inner closet and the upper chamber of our party, the BoT and others must rise to the occasion and tell everybody to cool down.
Even an Iroko tree changes its tree but no tree changes its root. The concept that established the party is very difficult to change otherwise we are looking for trouble.
But let us learn from the mistakes because there have been mistakes. I also suffered from mistakes. Remember we had a National Chairmanship issue that was supposed to be Southwest but some people manoeuvre themselves. They thought they had the power but look at where we are today. They thought I would leave the party but I have not left the party.
As a Christian and a strong believer in the faith, I believe that everything works in the interest of the almighty. A delay is not denial. I am still here today. I have not become the National Chairman but I have not faded away. So if you lose on one side, you don’t need to break down the rooftop. And those who won must be gracious in victory. When I listen to some of our colleagues, the kind of comments that came out of their mouths would make me angry. This is unnecessary. If we don’t learn from the activities of the past, how do we progress?”
Commenting on the call for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari, he said, “People are talking, we want to go an impeach Buhari but at this stage, I don’t think that is what is next. Bring all the issues against him and let us go to the campaign. Educate and prepare the minds of Nigerians that the power they have is their voice.
Let the will of the people be respected. Some are calling for Interim National Government but it is not in our constitution. This is not a military government. Let us work together and make sure that this contraption of a party called the APC never repeats itself.
For our party, I believe we should stop all these fireworks because it is not helping the country. The interest of Nigeria is far bigger than any individual interest. If we love this country we should come up with a suggested solution that will be acceptable to the minds and hearts of the people to put a smile on the faces of our brethren. We should stop deceit and fighting.”
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