Dr. Seye O’Dairo, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has stated that the opposition to the 2027 presidential ambition of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, expressed by Chief Bode George, the party’s former Deputy National Chairman, is not rooted in animosity.
Rather, it is an act of magnanimity aimed at speaking the truth and ensuring a strict adherence to the principles of equity, justice, and fairness established by the PDP’s founding fathers, the PDP chieftain said.
Dr. O’Dairo, who previously served as the Director-General of the Campaign Council for a former gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Lagos State, made this comment in response to remarks from another party chieftain, Otunba Segun Adewale, also known as Aeroland. Adewale had responded to Chief George’s statement regarding Alhaji Atiku’s candidacy ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Adewale had asserted that no one should claim that Atiku’s candidacy would harm the party in the upcoming elections. Instead, he pointed out that it is the anti-party activities of some leaders during elections that pose a true threat to the main opposition party.
He emphasized that Atiku, who was the party’s candidate in the 2023 presidential election, has been a significant contributor to the PDP for many years.
According to Adewale, Atiku would have won in the 2023 presidential election, saying that anti-party activities involved in by some elements within the fold “led the PDP to where it is today, where people are suffering.”
In a statement made available to newsmen, O’Dairo dismissed Adewale’s position, saying that it was not surprising to hear someone like him, supporting Atiku’s 2027 ambition allegedly because of what he stood to benefit for himself.
The PDP chieftain stated that Chief George, as one of the pioneers of PDP is in a position to know better and feel the pulse of the party and the nation, saying that was simply admonishing Alhaji Atiku whom he takes as a compatriot and holds in high esteem.
He maintained that George, who is also the Atona Oodua of Yoruba land “holds nothing against Atiku but just being magnanimous to speak the truth while appealing to the conscience of everybody, to allow the principle of equity, justice and fairness bestowed on the party by its founding fathers enshrined in the constitution be strictly adhered to.”
Speaking further, Dr. O’Dairo said Chief George’s position on a Northerner as PDP’s presidential flagbearer was not out of place, recalling that he had always defended the party’s principles of equity, justice and fairness, as enshrined in its constitution.
According to him, he (George) is only reminding every member “as always not to go through the same route that caused our party the collosal loss in the 2023 General Election,” saying that it was important that the PDP should know that fielding a Southerner in the 2027 General Election “is the only sensible option for the party, to complete the eight years of the current presidential tenure as the immediate past president before the current President Bola Tinubu, President Muhammadu Buhari, is a Northerner, who occupied the office for eight year.”
The party chieftain, while noting that Chief George had not and would never ask Alhaji Atiku not to run for presidency, being his constitutional right, however, posited that it behoves on him as a major stakeholder in the main opposition party and an elder statesman, to say the truth at all times even if others won’t, in line with the party’s constitution on the principles of rotational presidency.
This was just as he quickly recalled that it was for the sake of peace that managers of the party waved aside the non-adherence to the issue of rotation of the presidency in 2023, saying sadly that the issue, which was not well managed after the presidential primaries favoured Atiku, “brought PDP to where we are today.”
“As we speak, that issue brought PDP to where we are today. So, are we going to let it repeat itself? Is Alhaji Atiku saying that the South don’t have people that have the wherewithal and capacity to displace the ruling party out of power?” he asked.
“it is even to the disadvantage of the North, if Atiku a Northerner runs in 2027, as that would mean the region would only spend only four years in office before the South takes over power again,” he said.
O’Dairo affirmed that PDP remained the most formidable political party in Nigeria as revealed by its conducts and regard for equity, justice and fairness, stating that the party would ensure that the right things were done as time ticks for 2027, even as he pointed out that Chief George was one of the strongest critics of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to him, George’s stance dated back to over two decades, saying that the party chieftain “has never been compromised over his position because it is an issue of integrity.”
He, therefore, charged former Vice President Atiku to be weary of people around him who were just after their own personal aggrandizement, saying that such people cannot be trusted and should never be taken seriously.
“When you talk about anyone who wants Tinubu out of office, it is the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George,” he said.
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