PDP chieftain, Bode George
Eko Hot Blog reports that Bode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has said he has not abandoned his plan to leave the country once Bola Tinubu becomes president of Nigeria.
Last week, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the presidential election.
The commission announced that Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes. Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had the second-highest figure with 6,984,520 votes, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) finished third with 6,101,533 votes.
Before the election, George had, at least five times, vowed to leave Nigeria if Tinubu won the county’s top job.
In an interview published in the Punch newspaper on Sunday, the PDP chieftain said his self-imposed exile remains in the works although he is yet to decide on his destination.
He noted that he plans to retire to “anywhere in any part of the world” because Tinubu’s victory “might be a hell of a problem.”
APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu
“That is still on my plan. If I decide on what to do, I wish you well. I’m not looking for a job, I have everything I want and how much can I eat? I also have my children and they are no longer kids,” George said.
“They are all mature so what am I looking for? My wife is there. She will take good care of me. I will stay in Nigeria depending on the outcome of this [post-election litigation] because I know there might be a hell of a problem.
“You know I am a military lord so I can go anywhere in any part of the world and I will be looking at you people.
“I have even decided that having put 25 years each in the military and politics which is 50 years of my life in the public domain, I need rest so whatever I see at the end of this thing. I’m retiring from partisan politics and will be enjoying the rest of my life.”
Assessing the presidential and national assembly elections held on Saturday, February 25, the PDP chieftain described INEC’s performance as “shambolic.”
“Without mincing words, it was shambolic, shameless and full of inadequacies and futility,” he said.
“I am so heartbroken because I thought we were going to lift Nigeria to the level of a civilised world, that from every polling station, the results would be transmitted electronically into the server and it was done during Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections.
“We were all clapping, happy, and ready to elevate this nation from the dull room of filth to the level of a civilised world. And as a professor, I am so disappointed, because if the National Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, knew that there were hitches in the system, the best he could have done morally was to say ‘stop’ to all these operations.”
George also criticised members of his party for losing the presidential election because they went into the process with a divided house.
“In our party, I kept shouting and reminding these people that a divided house will be a defeated house. We have created the avenue for these things but that will be a port-mortem analysis within the party,” he said.
“As an elder in the party and a member of the Board of Trustees, we saw it coming. We discussed it because of the failings of the managers of the party. I told them that the South-West had been completely disenfranchised.
“Look at the way those children came out. The kids between the ages of 18 and 35 came out in millions believing this is the time. They want to change the direction of Nigeria but what did we give them?”
The PDP chieftain noted that the PDP would have won the 2023 presidential election if Obi stayed in the party.
“Of course, where did Peter Obi come from? Most of the people who got angry went away from the PDP; a divided house is a defeated house. You said the South-West doesn’t matter. If they added Obi’s votes to PDP’s, Tinubu would have been washed away,” he said.
“Divided we fall, and you can see it even with the manipulation that they did. The Labour Party won them because people are tired of the All Progressives Congress.”
Click to watch our video of the week:
Ekohotblog reports that a non governmentmental organization, Bayetty Charity Foundation recently organized a memorable Christmas…
Ekohotblog reports that the Ikosi-Ejinrin Local Council Development Area (LCDA), under the leadership of Otunba-Akogun…
FG subsidizes road transport on 144 routes nationwide for Christmas travel. Tinubu assures safe and…