Why Nigerians must scrutinise antecedents of presidential aspirants —Bode George

A former deputy national chairman (South) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, in the interview with the Group Politics Editor, KUNLE ODEREMI, X-rays those who have so far declared intent to run as presidential candidate in 2023, the vexed issue of zoning, what PDP must do to regain power at the centre.

In the last few days, about three people have indicated interest in the presidential race. What do you make of this?

My take is that it is legitimate for them to throw in their hat into the ring. But it is left for Nigerians to X-ray them, find out the details of their character. Any dirty or filthy things in the closets of these people that they know, for the sake of the future of this country, they must let other Nigerians know as well. Nigerians have the right to challenge any of them. All the wuruwuru of the past should not be allowed to go free. Now that the National Assembly and Buhari have accepted that there should be electronic transmission of results, this will make a lot of political sense. But it is a half way out. It is not complete yet. We should do direct primary as against indirect primary.

Why are you canvassing for direct primary?

It will show that power belongs to the people. When you have direct primary, every card-carrying member of the party will vote at the primary to elect whoever will be the candidate of their choice. For the indirect, they manipulate the party executives of the ward, local government and the state. The reform should be total. If we are copying the Americans, we should copy them fully. Otherwise, we are creating problems. I am happy that President MuhammaduBuhari has said he is okay with e-transmission of results. We are only hoping that the equipment that they will buy from vendors to carry out this will be foolproof and not fake. Let us know every plan they have. That is what is called transparency. All this under-table discussion and manipulation is not going to help us. Look at the way we are now? Who is not crying for one problem or the other, whether you are a rich man or a poor man? Everybody is now looking for survival. Is that the country we are hoping for? The system we are running is not okay.

What do you mean by the system?

The system of government we are running with a very powerful centre looks very much like a military structure. There must be devolution of powers to the states and they can in turn make certain contributions, say five or 10 per cent of what they make from their God-given resources to the centre. The people can then hold the government of their states responsible for mismanagement, corruption and so on since they are closer to them.  At the moment, there is only one police, a national police for over 200million people. It is a huge joke.

Still on the presidential aspirants, we have two former governors and a serving governor among them…

For me, time will tell. They are just coming out. As we go, more people will still come. You people in the media will have a vital role to play because the interest of this country should be national in its outlook. It should not be about the ambition of certain individual who thinks that he can appropriate the resources of government for the use of his family. Anytime you go out to campaign, you are asking the people to trust you that you will manage the resources of the country for their benefit. You in the media should put the people of the pedestal where they will be able to find out about this man, his role in the past, what he has contributed to the country. Can the people really trust him to hand over the management of the resources of the country? Some of those aspiring to be president have used the resources of their states for the benefit of their wives, children and cronies. It is absolutely insane. That is not the future and that is why we are taking one step forward and 10 steps backwards.  Where is the giant of Africa heading to?

We are just screaming on the same spot. This stealing and lying should stop. If we want to modernise and we do it the way it is done in the civilised world, this is the time. We have an opportunity now to roll out and challenge all these people. Not somebody who will tell you he went to Government College, Ibadan and they asked him who his classmates were. Nothing to show for it and the whole country is looking. It is so annoying. If we want to consider anybody, let us know what he has done before. Let us X-ray him and there should be no cover up. The moment somebody decides on his own to have a public outing politically and he has some dirty things about his past, he must be ready to defend it.

This is the period of sober approach and serious scrutiny of those aspiring with no sentiment. What is right is right and what is rubbish is rubbish. Democracy is a three-legged body that stabilises the platform. What are those pillars that make it three-legged?  The first one is justice. The second one is fairness and the third, equity. It cannot be you alone. You contribute your quota. It is not a 100 metres dash race. It is a continuum. We must open our eyes and steady Nigeria. The ship of state is drifting. There is a lot of tribal war and disagreement. There is monumental corruption. One of those aspiring to be president in 2023 had two bullion vans delivering money to his house on the eve of an election. What kind of character is that? What sort of idiocy is that? What an arrogance of power? And when they asked him, he said it was his money Look at the number of our assets that he has acquired.

On zoning, the South-East is currently agitating to produce the next president and quite a number of other aspirants from other parts of the country are equally scheming to be the president even from the North. Where do you think the next president should come from?

By the concept of our founding fathers, the position of the president is zoned North and South. It is never micro-zoned.  If it is to the South, it is to the South. And if it is to the North, it is to the North. So, if it is south, it means anybody from any part of the South can contest. It is the same thing if it is zoned to the North. That was according to our founding fathers. Now, ethically you will say is the South-West, South-South or the South-East happy? This thing is not driven that way. They have got to earn it. They have to convince the others to earn it. It is not automatic. And of course, the issue of zoning remains the control of majority against the minority. That was why the First Republic collapsed. That was why I earlier said democracy is a tripod. As long as we ensure there is justice, fairness and equity, the platform will be stable.

People should not go and sit down and expect that it will automatically it should be micro-zoned to them. In our party, the PDP, the position of the president is one position that is never micro-zoned. All the positions in a party, including that of the national chairman must be micro-zoned to balance a number of positions as the National Working Committee officers.

Since Buhari is from the North, should the next president also come from the South? Is that what you are saying?

I will tell you the mistakes that are being made now. When our founding fathers decided on the zoning thing, it was like an oral handover, nothing was written and because it is not a written document, people misinterpret it to suit their own private interest. I am going to meet with our party that it is time for us to put the issue of zoning down in writing so that future generations will not start misinterpreting that concept to suit their private interest. We have six geopolitical zones. If a candidate comes from the North, the vice or deputy will come from the South. After eight years, automatically it should rotate and all the positions in the North will come to the South. But what they did not envisage was if you now have another political party who got presidency by zoning. Naturally it should come down to the South. In PDP, we will do a lot of consultations and our ability to manage all interests will be a measure of our strength.

In a television interview last week, President Buhari said APC leaders must put their house in order. Otherwise, the PDP will bounce back to power in 2023…

That was what I was trying to tell you, that our ability to manage ourselves will be a measure of our strength. There is no organisation that does not have one crisis or the other. But the ability of the managers to go through serious discussion, lobby, which are all part of democracy, determines their strength. At the centre of such serious discussion is the truth which they must tell themselves.

Are you saying if APC loses the centre in 2023, it will be as a result of crisis and not perceived bad governance?

Of course bad governance is a major issue. Members of any political party coming together are not as many as the electorate who are in clear majority. It is the electorate who will decide who becomes president next year. Nigerians will look at so many things in deciding who to vote for in 2023. I am sure Nigerians will not trust a man who moved bullion vans into his house on election eve.