Politics

Why Ayu should resign —Bode George

Former deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, speaks with SUBAIR MOHAMMED on the growing insecurity in the country, discordance within the party and its effect on the chances of PDP in 2023 general election.

Things are not all smooth in your party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), how do you hope to address these challenges will the next election approaching?

I have been away for a while and I made sure I stayed away from the public to do introspection and an assessment of where we are. This is because, in a democracy, we must always talk and exchange ideas; we must discuss, agree and disagree on views without being absolutely disagreeable. Since the national convention held, I have been away watching. Naturally, in every organisation, no matter the size of the organisation, once it is made up of human beings, there is bound to be infractions and disagreement on issues but the ability to manage those crises and arrive at a positive destination will be a measure of your capacity. We are going into election year; we have problems in our party but they are not all insurmountable. I will appeal to all sides to sheath their swords because we are in the throes of a political journey, the national election. 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. There is a lot of cacophonies coming from all corners and I want to plead with our people to sheath their swords. We can achieve more by people not throwing tantrums. I want to plead, as an elder and member of the party since 1998 when this party was established by the party’s founding fathers, to shun statements, innuendos and name calling that can actually destroy the party. When they came with the concept of the PDP, we had people who could never before sit together in the room to discuss politics. Did you imagine Jim Nwobodo with Alex Ekwueme and Bola Ige, Solomon Lar, Abubakar Rimi, Bamanga Tukur and many other characters sit to discuss politics for the interest of this country? They divided Nigeria into six political zones because of the experiences of the first and second republic where majority from the Northern part of the country had their way while minority were perpetual onlookers and that created a lot of frictions.

The frictions that were created led to the military intervention in politics. The need to resolve this crisis to have inclusivity and bring Nigerians to the table was reason the PDP was established. Our people gave the concept that established the PDP all kinds of name ranging from zoning to rotation and whatever but it sustained democracy for this long. I have seen the disagreement and anger from all shades but I want to plead, like an elder should to the inner closet and the upper chamber of our party, the Board of Trustees, to rise to the occasion and carry everybody along.

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, we must learn from our mistakes because there have been mistakes. I also suffered from the same mistakes. Remember we had national chairmanship issue that was supposed to be zoned to the Southwest but some people manoeuvred themselves because they had the power. Look at where we are today? But, I have not left the party because 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 didn’t 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 roof. And those who won must be gracious in victory. When I listen to some of our colleagues, the kind of comments that are coming out I feel very angry. This is unnecessary. If we don’t learn from the activities of the past, how can we progress? So my plea is, all sides must calm their temper.

People were saying the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has no right to be talking to people. But I asked, who is the candidate that wants to wear the big shoe? Why would he not talk to the people? I have heard some senior colleagues say he didn’t need to, that that is the job of the party. But, it is the congregation and the addition of people that makes the party. So there is nothing wrong in networking, it makes a lot of sense. I am not saying A or B is right or wrong. Everybody is right but, at the same time, we need to bring these issues to the party for discussion because Nigerians are waiting for the PDP. They are fed up of the APC that is a contraption. It is a congregation of strange bird fellows. APC is not a political party. So, if you decide to throw stone to every dog that barks at you, you will never get to your destination.

Sometime you’ll look at some battles and decide to move on. 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 over the corners of this country. They are ready to descend on this nation. Whether you are rich or you are poor will be immaterial-therefore, we have to be careful. Let us lead by example because in our party, we have people with experience. We are people who are knowledgeable. We have people who have the guts and the humaneness in human body. Our party is like a human body. Is there any part of human body that you can discard? Every part is important and that is the reason we must work to achieve our goals and have regards and respect for all the various parts of the body. It is when the party is a full body that we can fight the battle successfully.

The nation faces a lot of security challenges; how should it be tackled?

Nigeria is in dire straits. It is in total confusion. Security, which is the number one job of any government has been decimated. Various comments of the National Security Adviser point to the fact that the government is confused and has no solution to the problems of insecurity. It is more honourable for him to bow out. I saw a member of the family of one of the women that was abducted in the Abuja-Kaduna bound train. Her relations paid dollars as ransom to secure her. She was like a skeleton. Other victims of the kidnap are still there but up till now, the federal government has not done anything to secure their release. People are clamouring for President Muhammadu Buhari to be impeached but I said, we are not at this stage. Calling for the impeachment of the president is not necessary. It is not what is next. Rather Nigerians should bring all these issues against him during campaign. We need to educate and prepare the minds of Nigerians that the power they have is their voice. The will of the people must be respected. Some are calling for Interim National Government but it is not in our constitution. This is not a military government. Anything you can garner, let us work together and make sure that this contraption of a party called the APC never repeats itself.

For the PDP, 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 and put smile on the faces of our brethren; enough of deceit and fighting. Our founding fathers decided that once the president comes from the northern zone, chairman of the party must come from the southern zone and vice versa. And it is so simply done. I told you that they created six geopolitical zones and made sure that every zone has a sense of belonging. Inclusivity is guaranteed because the president, vice-president, senate president, speaker, secretary to federal government and the national chairman of the party comes from each of the zones and everyone is fully satisfied. At the meeting, the party said they had zoned all positions but where is the presidency zoned to? This created so much challenges and that was how Uche Secondus was removed and replaced with Iyorchia Ayu because the party chairmanship had been zoned to the North.

It was at that time they should have pronounced that the presidential candidate must also be zoned to the South but they refused. And when we argued at the NEC meeting, they now came up that they need to revisit the issue of zoning that was why a zoning committee which I was a member was established. But, with what the APC government had done to Nigerians, zoning is more important now than even in 1999. Mind you, Ayu had said that once the presidential candidate emerges from the North, he would resign. I want to take him up on that because I know him to be a responsible human being. I would have gone to the convention the last time as national chairman because it was supposed to be zoned to the Southwest. But in the interest of the party, I said no, I would not compete. See where we are today. We should do away with individual interests because Nigerians are angry.

How is your party going to solve the challenge of inclusivity?

Political inclusion is the most topical issue in the country today. Like our founding fathers had said that all the positions in the north will move to the south and the south to the north but they never envisaged that someday another political party would produce the president. So when President Buhari finally came, people said he is not from the PDP but is he from Anambra or Lagos states? He is president of Nigeria. And that led to the issue of zoning. Now that the presidency has gone to the north, and Ayu himself, is conscious of zoning. In the interest of the party, he should resign. If the PDP collapses, APC is a contraption. Did you see their convention where every aspirant started dropping like a rotten apple after having paid N100million? I felt ashamed. I was bold to make a statement that if we don’t put our acts together and disallow individual ambition, Armageddon is hovering over us in the country. Individualism doesn’t lead you to your goal. We have very good chances in this country. Our party, the PDP faces the ruling party, and if the two big parties, especially ours, don’t put our acts together, we will be surprised. Over seven million voters have registered in Lagos State, which is the highest followed by Kano state. Nobody can win the presidency without substantial winning from the south and the north, hence our plea for members to cool temper. We have to resolve our challenges in-house so that we can face the public and convince them why we are better managers of the country’s resources.

What’s the prospect of the PDP winning the governorship election in Lagos State?

There are some mistakes. It is human to make mistakes but the ability to quickly recognise the mistake, make amends and make sure that the interest of the party is higher than individual interest. God is there and He is hearing the prayers of Nigerians every day. This is the time to flush out the mess they have made in my state, Lagos state. You don’t lie yourself to success.

As a retired military officer, what advice would you give to the Federal Government to solve insecurity in the country?

We had never been in this situation where people are so despondent. We had never been in a situation where security had been a major issue in this country. Modern technology is readily available. I was privileged to have attended the United State Naval war college in 1986. I remember we visited the Air station in Maine, a small state in the Northeast of the US. The state was monitoring all the submarines on the Atlantic. There was a woman commander who took us through the operations. I was the president of Class 30. As we sat down in the class, the large screen was showing Tinubu Square real time. I saw people moving up and down and there were yellow buses. That was Lagos in 1986. Satellite technologies and drones are readily available to combat insecurity, so what is the Federal government doing? Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa, what are we doing to bring peace to the continent? If anything happens and we start surging to other countries, we’ll create hell for them. I am baffled because we have the best of hands, brilliant minds. I don’t know if they still go for modern training in warfare. The number one job of any government is to guarantee the security of lives and property and if they can’t do that, they have no business being in government. These are issues I believe we will put on our tactical table to consider.

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