A former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, in this interview by BOLA BADMUS, speaks on various issues of national interest ranging from his party’s congresses in the states and its national convention; the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), 2023 general election and insecurity, among others. Excerpts:
About two weeks ago, the PDP was supposed to conduct a congress to elect its new executive in Lagos State but could not. What happened?
First of all, it is internal dynamics. The stake was so high that even some of those people who call themselves old members joined the normal discussion before the congress. And the way I was brought up and the way I know civilized human beings behave, when you are at a meeting, if you have any objection, you raise it there or forever keep shut. Every aspirant appeared before the apex body of the party in the state with a view to saying, okay this is the consensus because it is an internal thing. The consensus is also part of our party culture. All the contestants appeared before the apex body, from chairman to secretary in the state. All of a sudden, I think they went from there and got another group and started aligning to those people. The beauty of democracy is, you listen to the best debates, robust discussions with biases. So getting to the field, I watched proceedings on YouTube; it was streamed. I was in my house from where I saw what was happening at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS). The moment the crowd broke the security I said this is dangerous. The TBS is a massive area, how do you control those people who are not delegates? How would you be able to manage the crowd? I called the chairman of the state congress, the deputy governor of Benue State, and I expressed my concern, because I saw them and the gates were wide open. So, you have compromised? And I kept watching and looking at them and there was nothing they could do to drive those people away. I had another function that evening at 5 p.m. and I had to be there. When it was about 3 O’clock, I told my wife that we had to go to the field and see what is going on.
In the meantime, all the warring parties had brought their guns. Of course, as the leader of the party, I did the tour of honour; I went from one local government delegation to another telling them to please calm down, exercise your rights. And they hadn’t seen me physically in a long while. So, I went round the 20 local governments. I sat there with my wife while Mrs. Abiodun Olujimi prepared for us to be able to vote, so we waited. I kept on looking because I didn’t want to go late to the ceremony I had at 5pm. When it was getting a little bit too late, I got up and said I won’t be able to wait, I have seen everybody and I have greeted them. It was a very healthy environment, they were happy to see me.
So as I was going to my car, I heard a gunshot. I asked who fired the gun shot. Then the Commissioner of Police, Odumosu; DC Operations, all the Area Commanders were now rushing to one end, thinking that it is one of my boys that fired the shot. They didn’t know that some of those people who had weapons and cutlasses and things had brought in; because there was no more frisking of anybody, it was open-ended. I also heard that gunshot, but they thought one of my boys fired it and so they asked. If one of these boys with me here had fired the shot, it won’t sound like that. They have superior weapon. Everybody would have known that these boys fired the shot. Then we heard another gunshot. I said you can see that this is not from here. Look at the top of the gallery there. So we got into the car and drove away. I was told that the Commissioner of Police apprehended the person who brought a gun and a cutlass. You didn›t know who else had a gun because it was free for all. When I got home, called to ask my reaction to the fact hthat the chairman for the congress had aborted it and that everybody was going away and that the place was no longer secured.› That was a very sensible thing to do. It was getting late. I heard that some of the people said it was my people who fired gunshots. That really enraged me, shoot guns for what? Who rolled out the funds for us to gather there? Who paid for the venue? Who paid for the transportation of all the delegates to come? Who paid for their feeding? Who paid for the security there? I asked them. I called those people and they all said they didn’t know. Dr. Pearse now issued a statement.
But he (Pearse) said he didn’t accuse you of shooting or ordering it, but said the sequence of events should be looked into. For instance, he said you approached Mrs. Olujimi and told her that they should suspend the congress and that you also left the venue afterwards?
When you want to talk, put your thinking cap on. I have told him he will be sued to court because he made that statement. I was going to take my seat when I briefly addressed newsmen. That was when Mrs. Olujimi arranged two chairs for me, and then we went there and sat down. Where was he? In fact, as I sat there, many of the contestants also came to greet me and took photographs with us. Niyi Adams came and we hugged while I told all of them to calm down. So how could he know what we were doing if he wasn’t there? Olujimi got us two chairs and we sat under that canopy, waiting for her to go and organise so that we could vote. But after about 30 minutes or more, we didn’t see her again, I said they should go and look for her because I had a function that evening at 5pm. So we left around quarter to four, got home only to get dressed, this journalist now called me and said the chairman had suspended it. I said maybe it is better. It was at that time I was also told that Commissioner of Police had arrested one of the boys carrying weapons. He personally arrested the suspect. The person they arrested is cooling off in Panti now.
Let them ask him who brought him to the field. The investigation should come out with that. And I said they must get to the end of this because when people talk, they must put on their thinking cap. He must withdraw what he was quoted to have said in the newspapers because even saying that the crisis started after I met Olujimi is not right.
But after all said and done, what is so difficult in sitting and meeting? This is an internal thing. And because of the tension, if one side had won, you think that would have brought peace? The wound would have been further expanded and would it have healed before the convention? This is why I had suggested what to do. I asked the National Organising Secretary, if this was not an internal dynamics of family? Let the governor of Oyo State, who is the number one governor now, come to Lagos. Let’s sit down, call people from both sides and let’s look at the contestants. Anyone you all agree with is the person by consensus or by discussion, then that is it. So you can cross the bridge without any madness. The way it is now, everybody is dug up in their trenches. Are we fighting a war? So that’s my suggestion to them and to the national headquarters of PDP.
You are talking about consensus but people are saying that what is taking place in Lagos PDP is not about consensus but about imposition, about the fact that there are some people who are agents of APC within the party. They claim that has been responsible for PDP not being able to secure governorship seat since the beginning of this democracy?
Let me be frank with you, some people had the idea. For me, if anybody at that level, any of them, wants to be chairman for us to be comfortable we must know what you do for a living. What had been your role because the question we asked them when they came for party screening is: what has been your experience in this party and your contributions to the party? And then the third question is: what is your vision?
For purposes of continuity, you must have been part of the top echelon – Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary. And if this one goes, this one takes over, so that you are already part of the story. With that arrangement, we have the people who know the norms of the party, the culture of the party, the dos and don’ts of the party. Just don’t jump. Unfortunately for us, we lost the former secretary of the party in the state, Muiz Dosumu. He had already done so much as he had won the hearts and minds of people. We say yes, he should step into the position of chairman because we knew that he was the one that was bringing the 35/65 groups together. For six months, he was bringing them here appealing to them to let us build the party. Suddenly he died, and then the chairman himself died. How do you now get yourself together? It was a rude shock. So we now said let’s wait, who among the others can now come out as chairman? We lost that tradition of saying automatic transition and we didn’t have anybody.
Fawole said he wanted to run even before Muiz. I said he must be tested to be part of the top echelon for us to assess him. You yourself will know the rules because it is not all the rules that are written. There are some that are like oral tradition. And I said until you get through that you will not be. And Niyi Adams also, those are the two contending people. Niyi Adams called from America and said I want to be chairman. I said how? He is the only one that I know very closely, and I said no, I will not support your candidature. You were local government chairman of Eti Osa before and you have been a youth leader. He just came back and he said he wanted to be chairman. What are you talking about? Immediately we finished the general election in 2019, he was gone, and he just showed up now. I don’t need any sentiments in this game.
The other man is not a Lagosian but because Lagos is a cosmopolitan city, there is no tribe that doesn’t reside there. During preparations for the last elections, we said, wait a minute, if it is all Lagosians, Lagosian how are we going to win? There are pockets of places like Ajegunle, Amuwo, Oshodi, Isolo where the Igbo reside. We got the crème de la crème of Igbo leaders in this room. And I discussed with President Goodluck Jonathan and he said I should go ahead. I called them here and said, now go to your areas and give us one nominee who will work for you. That was how we had all these people who won the elections to the House of Reps in 2015. That baffled Bola Tinubu because he spent money in a bullion van in his house on the election day. But those people stood by their people and the only position I will not compromise is the position for governorship. That other guy, Fawole, had been here, he was chairman of Surulere.
Now Fawole has a very big medical hospital in Surulere and also has a chamber and he still goes to court as a lawyer. So when he now came up and said he wanted to vie for the position of chairman, I now said well this fellow could be considered. The others said it is imposition of candidate. Is he from my family? Is he my brother? Is he my friend? The only one close to me is Niyi Adams. If I can’t tell him the truth, because he is my younger brother, I know it is dangerous and he is into real estate. If you do real estate in this state, tell me how you can exonerate yourself from the clutches of Lagos State government? I have told them, if you know the truth say it, because that is the only thing that will set you free. I don’t hate him, he has asked me that he wants to come and see me and I said come any time you want to see me. But the issue is we want to win Lagos. Where are the encumbrances, the road blocks? So if I had wanted to be like them, I will shut that down but my conscience will prick me. Because if you don’t have the fear of God in this game we are doing, you are finished. What did I do before they sent me to Kirikiri? They said we split contract, there was no money missing, the contract was not even awarded. And we went to prison for two years. They knew what they were playing at. I look at our nation, if we continue to deceive ourselves, when you know this is the path of honour, you decide to head to hell, what are you going to get from that route?
What do you think the party should focus on ahead of 2023?
The founding fathers and I will struggle as part of my last contribution to this party before I head out. The oral history should now be written, the culture of the party, the zoning system must now be there in writing and not just everybody translating it to suit their own purpose. Those who sat and said they zoned chairman to the North and said presidency can also come from anywhere, how is that possible? It is our future you are toying around with. Call a spade a spade when you are inside that house discussing your party, there should be no half measures. The way the founding fathers set it out was to avoid the crisis we had in the 60s, where the majority will always have their way, minorities will only be seen and be told to shut up. That led to the crisis of the first coup. Dr. Alex Ekwueme and others brought this idea rotational presidency. It is not new in the world. That is what happens in Switzerland, where you have the Germans, French and Italians, they also rotate. They came up and said let us divide Nigeria into six geo-political zones; this is coming from our founding fathers. That is not in our constitution and in our own party constitution. It is just in our head, it is not written in black and white so that there will be no misinterpretation. We have six geo-political zones and there are six top positions in the land namely: President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker, Secretary to Government of the Federation and National Chairman of the party. With the arrangement, every zone will go home with one of this. So that sense of belonging will be enhanced. Now after every eight (8) years, the three top positions will come to the South while the three at the bottom will go to the North. There can be no reason that the National Chairman and the President will come from the same zone or side. If the presidency goes north, vice presidency goes south. The Senate presidency goes north, the Speakership comes south. The Secretary to the Government position goes up North, the National Chairmanship slot comes South. So how can that be? So you see, rather than face the problem and resolve it now they are kicking the can down the road. If you say everybody can contest presidency, what are you trying to do? Throwing the whole party under the bus? Now they said okay if it now comes from the North, then they will now suddenly say okay, you people produce chairman.
What is your reaction to the Senate’s new decision to allow e- voting in the country which it initially opposed?
I am happy that the legislators have now agreed that it must be e-voting. That is a big step forward, rather than the manual voting like it was done in the 13th century. We are now trying to modernise. The chairman of INEC, I respect him, he has worked with us before. I know how committed, loyal and dedicated that he is. We must make sure we don’t go to any Chinese or Indian to bring software. Go to the real source, the Americans have been able to cut out people trying to manipulate the system, they have the programmes. We also have Nigerians who are brilliant. They can use them and we can do a test run. We can do this so that we can be at the level of the civilised world. I am also begging Buhari, our oga at the top, to quickly sign the e-voting bill into law.
Secondly, he should revisit the report of 2014 conference. His name will be written in gold on the pages of our history. Do you know what is going on now in the South-East, in Anambra and others? Somebody says don’t go out and everybody will sit down. And if you dare to do otherwise you pay dearly for it. What is going on? Look at the young boys who came out to do an anniversary of #EndSARS to speak their minds. Why were they bashing them? That makes it look like a military government. If these people managing Lagos are thoroughbred politicians, what they did was the most horrendous, the most wicked, the most thoughtless approach to treating those young men who came out. Allow them to exercise their freedom. Do they come out every day? It is part of democracy.
Bandits recently attacked Abolongo Correctional Centre in Oyo and set inmates free. The clamour that the presidency should declare them as terrorists is heightening. Governor Kayode Fayemi and Nasir el-Rufai have made this call. What is your view about this?
The APC is a congregation of strange bedfellows. All the people you have mentioned belong to the APC. Isn’t that enough issue to bring to their table? Why are they talking to the press? Is it not a matter of urgency for them to put things right, discuss it and come up with one voice? What a cacophony of voices! They should go and meet the leader of their party. Has that not confirmed that they are strange bedfellows? El-Rufai from Kaduna, Fayemi from Ekiti, don’t they have elder’s meeting? You can see why I said Nigerians should sit back and look at it. I have seen the lacuna in this issue of chairmanship being zoned to the North. And then anybody in the zone can now contest, has that happened before? What are we trying to say?
There is the thought in your party that of the 16 it was in power, the South ruled for 14 years. They said it would only be fair that the presidential candidate of the party should be allowed to come from the North, which is the reason why people like Saraki, Atiku, Tambuwal and Bala Mohammed are in the race. What is your take on this?
When you want to do ‘wuru wuru’ you start counting from 1999. They are talking about 1999, was Nigeria created in 1999? You want to know how many times, group A has been ruling. Go all the way back to 1960 that we got independence. How many times have our people in the North been on the saddle? So it soothes you to say that from 1999, the South had ruled for 14 years, so the military is to be wiped out of our history? The Tafawa Balewa regime is to be wiped out of our history? When we come to equity, let us come with clean hands. Only the truth will liberate us. That is like working wuru wuru to the answer. Let’s be serious. If I was there, I will ask them when we got independence. So the whole period of the military should be an interregnum, is it to be discountenanced? Is that a fair assessment?
What about the fact that the Igbo are agitating that it is their turn and it doesn’t seem that they are going to be given that slot?
Their agitation is right because what is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander. They have a right to demand for it. They also have a right to network and convince other Nigerians that this is justice, fairness and equity. You just don’t demand it, you earn it by your interaction and convincing the people. That is the beauty of democracy. Now, nobody has excluded the South-East. The approach must be convincing enough. I also sympathise with them and rightly so, they have a right to say ‘yes, it is our turn’. But this thing does not just drop on your laps, you network.
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