LAGOS PDP Leader, Chief BODE GEORGE Opens Up
Lagos PDP Leader, Chief Bode George is always a delight to talk to any day, anytime. This is because as a retired Navy General he usually shoots from the hips. He has been a long-standing member of the PDP and he has been active both at the National and State level where he has held key and vital positions.
Recently, key stakeholders held a crucial meeting at his Lagos office where far-reaching decisions were taken on how to move the party forward in the state. It was the initiative of Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State. Some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) including Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, met with the former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Bode George, behind closed doors. The meeting was part of moves to broker peace among warring members of the party in Lagos State.
The meeting, which was held at Chief Bode George Lugard Street office in Ikoyi, also had in attendance, former Lagos State Deputy Governor, Chief Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele; former national secretary of the party, Dr. Remi Akitoye and Dr. Adegbola Dominic. Others who attended the meeting were the former Minister of Transportation, Chief Ebenezer Babatope and former governorship candidate of Action Democratic Party (ADP), Mr. Babatunde Gbadamosi. Recall that the party has in recent times been facing leadership crisis with 2 people claiming its chairmanship.
But as part of moves to resolve the lingering crisis, the stakeholders met with the aggrieved members for more than 3 hours. Makinde, who spoke at the end of the meeting, expressed satisfaction with the outcome, saying reconciliation is in progress. He said with the positive outcome of the meeting, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos should expect surprises in 2023 elections. For his part, Bode George expressed optimism that the crisis rocking the Lagos PDP chapter would be resolved.
What happened at that meeting? Who did what at the said meeting?
In this special interview, Chief Bode George told City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE, how the crisis that has been rocking Lagos PDP was amicably resolved. Below are the details of the meeting.
Some stakeholders of PDP met with you in this office a few days back after which Gov. Seyi Makinde said the APC was in trouble in Lagos. What necessitated that meeting?
What happened was that our former Chairman, Salvador left the party abruptly, in circumstances that were not healthy. It was not civil at all. We had just lost one of the best hands that we had. The man was the Chairman of Chairmen, the Chairman of the LG Chairmen. He was a very resourceful young man. He was shot where they went and the then Commissioner of Police in Lagos didn’t manage the investigation properly. He was very hostile and nasty to us. I told him that whatever one does in life will follow you, especially when it involves the life of a human being.
Thereafter, the party had to get somebody to replace Salvador because he left for the APC. The deputy acted. And the deputy was to act for 90 days. According to our Constitution, if you are acting, you shouldn’t act for more than 90days. After that, the full Exco met, which is the Law and then elected Dominic. About 4 of them contested. So, we were now trying to settle down. That was the period of elections.
Not long after that, we got a letter from the National body saying that they only allowed Dominic to act for 90 days. And I said No. The law is very clear. If at any level, Ward level, Local Government level, State level, even the National, if one fellow resigns, or, leaves the party and he is one of the Managers, the Exco at that level will meet and elect somebody else from the zone where he was from, then he will act at the tenure. It’s a very simple language. We are in Court now. It has to do with the Constitution of the party.
I spoke to those guys. Look, I spent 10 years at the National level. The procedure, I know very well. I said No. He is not the one acting. He had been selected by the State Executive Committee but they insisted they were coming. They even sold forms. They insisted they were going to come to do a Congress, I said which Congress? Please don’t destroy this party. Which Congress are you coming to do? The guy they sent as Chairman, Senator Obi. I spoke to him. I said look you can’t re-invent the wheel. We are in opposition. Take a deep breathe. Read that Constitution and let’s follow it. This chap was elected properly. They discountenanced what we were saying and now sent a committee to hold this illegal Congress. Of course, definitely they couldn’t have formed a Quorum I told him, as the Chairman that this was not necessary. This is not right. The party management and the party managers need to be very careful. If you can’t tell the truth, if you cannot, sustain Justice, Fairness & Equity, things will go bad. See, the APC is in tatters. Let the Court interpret the Constitution.
So, Engr. Seyi Makinde, the Governor of Oyo State, is also from the South-West, which means he is a leader in the South West. He decided he was going to intervene. I said why not? And the former Governor of Delta, I like him, James Ibori is one of the people I have a lot of respect for. Both of them decided to intervene, for us to discuss it. Of course, even if you are quarrelling outside, you will have to come back to the table to discuss. And I said that is fine by me. So, they came and they said this is an issue that should not be in court.
This is an issue that we can resolve amicably. I said well, the managers of the party didn’t handle it well. Nobody is infallible, but even if you commit a mistake, because of my level in the party, you should at least respect me. I am the 1st elected Vice-Chairman of the South West. I became the Deputy National Chairman, South and I became the Deputy National for the whole country. That itself should count. But you were listening to those fresh hands who just joined the party and I saw that this kind of attitude will sink this ship. But when those people said Oga, lets discuss these issues, (Emabinu Sir) I said ok. It’s not a personal thing. If we refuse to obey our regulation, we are dead. So, they came. The meeting went extremely well because most of the leaders and elders attended and spoke well.
Some of our leaders joined the other side, shockingly enough for me, I was wondering. This thing was not written in Greek or Latin. It is not a matter of some ill winds blowing through their hearts. This is simple. In fact on the day that we did the State exco-Elections, to replace the Chairman, Doherty himself was present at that point. All of them, those who are now parading and trying to cause problems were there. I looked at them and realized that the words of elders will always come to be. And so Gov. Makinde & James Ibori took it upon themselves. There were others like Ebino Topsy, (Chief Babatope), they then came and explained things, to them, and at the end, they said look, we need to resolve these issues. We can Disagree without being Disagreeable. There is no rigidity in anything that is politics. Even if you err, or make a mistake, you can’t run it down our throat, because you are elected to serve a term. And someday there will be a day after your job. So, they appealed and I said ok. They first met me and they met the bigger group. I told them I have nothing at stake. It’s not a personal issue. It’s not a personal fight with anybody. All we want is to make sure that we do what is Just, we do what is Fair, and what is Equitable because on those 3 legs rest the platform of the PDP.
If one of those items like Justice, Fairness & Equity is missing, if anyone of them is not there, you can never be stable. We all agreed that we would look at the whole thing, maybe one of them will take one position, and the others will take the other position to balance things up and create peace in the party. That is agreeable to me.
So, we can then call a South West meeting when Gov. Makinde comes back from abroad. And I want to thank them for the respect they gave me and the idea that they know the truth. Exactly what is happening in Lagos, happened in Ogun State.
I was told this morning that the party itself went to court. It’s the party that went to court. Meanwhile, Obi was telling me the court cannot decide. But they ran to court and got an injunction to prevent any Congress. The fallout is that the Judiciary is the last hope for the poor people and even the rich, for everybody. Let them interpret it. We are not in an animal kingdom. That is why we have Laws and you should behave according to our laws. I thank those who came. We had a very serious, sensible, honest discussion here. That is how it should be to stabilise the party. We are not even sure that some of those guys are not being sponsored from the other opposition party. You saw how most of them who headed out ended up in APC. Salvador himself was a chairman of a party and he headed out. I just can’t understand it. A whole Chairman of a party? The man on whose shoulder the responsibility of running the party, the management of the party lies?
He just took off, just like that, to the opposition, in broad daylight. We have since discovered that there are many people who are PDP in the day time and APC at night. We just thank God that they have gone. Good riddance to bad rubbish. The Emperor there knows them and he knows how to handle such characters. When Gov. Makinde comes back, we would hold a larger meeting sometime this month, to conclude. The whole South-West will meet. You know how we missed it the last time? Somebody who was in charge just started throwing his own laws that are not within the laws of the LAGOS PDP and what happened to us was that we lost because a divided house is a defeated house. I hope we learnt our lessons.
