FORMER Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, said on Wednesday in Lagos that the party’s journey to winning the 2019 Presidential Election and returning to the Villa will commence with its forthcoming national convention, but quickly charged party leaders and members to ensure that the South-West zone was allowed to produce the next National Chairman of PDP not only because it was its turn to do so but also for the zone’s electoral value.
The party chieftain, who is the front-runner in the race for the exalted office, gave this charge while speaking with newsmen in Ikoyi, in response to a question.
George, who insisted that it was now the turn of the South-West to produce somebody for the PDP’s top office and himself being readily qualified for the job due to his experience in party management, said party faithful as politician must sit down on their “tactical table” and look for the best to lead the party.
He said they must also look at which zone of the country that had significant votes to deliver in any election, recalling that Lagos State alone had a total registered voter of 7.1million beside several million votes from other South-West states, warning it was not a figure anyone who wanted to become Nigeria’s president must just jettison.
“So, the issue of South-West and South-South, it doesn’t matter, let us get it right. You know what I have been telling a lot of my friends, we have friends, we’ve friends all over. All my friends in the South-South and all other places, we would take a decision on who would man the party. We would look at the electoral value of each area.
“As a politician, you must sit down on your tactical table and look for the best, which area has those values, can you afford to alienate that area? Lagos State alone has 7.1million registered voters alone, Lagos alone, is that a figure anyone who wants to go to the Villa would just jettison? No, no. So if you now add all the other states of South-West to Lagos, it is a big number. South-West is a cool zone. The journey for that 2019 would start from this convention,” he said.
Speaking about his ability to hold the office if elected, George, who is Atona Oodua of the Source, urged PDP member to set aside emotion, tribal or primordial sentiment and cast their vote for the best candidate, which he said he represented, warning again that the convention should not be seen as a jamboree.
While recalling that the PDP made its mistakes that eventually led to its defeat in 2019 poll, a development he said must have made it learn its lesson, equally tasked the leaders to use the opportunity of the party’s forthcoming national convention to elect as chairman someone who had the “courage to face the lion in its den” and win the 2019 polls being his major task to deliver if voted.
“I say let us forget about emotion, let us forget about primordial, tribal or whatever. Strong figure, low figure, strong face, fine face, these are not the issues now, who has the courage to face the lion in its den should be the concern?
“And I would end up by stating and quoting the Book of Ecclesiastic, Chapter 3. There is a season for everything, the time to be born and the time to die, the time to appoint the courageous, the brave, the industrious, the experienced to do a thing and a time to not to do it.
“If we think this is the time for another jamboree, ‘na we we,’ we are in opposition. We took those chances before and I think God taught us some lessons.
“I have done it before. I have resolved the crisis in South-South, South-East, North-West and part of North-Central. So we are coming in back there, what is our aim? To win all the election for 2019,” he said.
and then