Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George is a retired Navy Commodore and a political leader. He was a former Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party and the leader of the party in Lagos State. In this interview, he speaks on the party’s leadership crisis and how to resolve the imbroglio. Excerpts:
What do you make of the decision of the People’s Democratic Party Governors Forum concerning the crisis in the party?
It is nice to be back because I was out of the country for six weeks looking at Nigeria from afar and you know that when you are not part of a group and you are away, you will see more and learn more.
It was glorious when I heard the statement by Governor Bala Mohammed because he just confirmed my belief that our party has the robust ability and the competence to handle crises. When there is a crisis, you can always rise above pettiness and tell the truth to power.
So, I was very happy. People that I met outside this country are eager and they keep asking me what is going on with your party, can’t you solve it and I said we will. So, I want to thank everybody who has been part of this resolution.
I hope going forward; those who have been playing on their ambition should shelve those ambitions and let the system take care of itself.
I want to convince Nigerians that in every organization, there will be a crisis but your ability to be able to handle it within the fold will be heartwarming to those Nigerians who are the electors.
“Nigerians are looking for other ways out. They have tested our party and they saw that we can be reliable, dependable and that we can manage better than the other party, which is a congregation of strange bedfellows”
How do you think the party can resolve the issue of Umar Damagum refusing to vacate office as acting national chairman and the issue of indiscipline in the party or is it the All Progressives Congress using agents to destabilize PDP?
In any political forum, people will move in all kinds of directions, but there must always be an elder in the room to call everybody to order and that was what Governor Mohammed and his group have done. I kept watching and listening and I was thinking, are there no more elders in the party?
If the Board of Trustees, which is the uppermost chamber of correction or maintaining peace in the party cannot do it, then who else is going to do it?
But I’m happy that members of the Board of Trustees and the PDP Governors’ Forum have now come together to listen to all parties.
And it is about time because Nigerians are looking for other ways out.
They have tested our party and they saw that we can be reliable, dependable and that we can manage better than the other party, which is a congregation of strange bedfellows. The first step has been taken, everybody stays where they are.
They will now set up a panel, but it is not the judicial kind of investigation we want because it was since the last presidential convention that everything started but instead of arresting it, they were exacerbating it.
We told Dr. Iyorchia Ayu that we could not have the chairman of the party and the presidential candidate from one side of the divide, they didn’t listen.
So, we have gotten to a point where we are revisiting the concept established by the founding fathers of the party like Chief Alex Ekwueme because he was the chief convener of all other heavyweights to sit with him and to come to terms with what should be done.
That was the first time we had a political party that cut across all the tribes and religions, and the two major problems of Nigeria are religion and tribalism.
So, I was happy because this is what we are looking for. No matter who we are as individuals, this party is not a private enterprise of anybody and nobody can be bigger than the National Executive Committee of the party.
We haven’t called NEC meetings for a very long time because that is where decisions would have been taken and the National Working Committee also took powers to themselves and they were throwing suspensions around.
I kept telling some of them that you cannot do this without going to NEC but I want to appeal to the leaders of the various groups, if you love this party, it is time to shelve your ambitions and whatever personal plans and let us rebuild the party.
Let the Iroko tree get back because the taproot is still there and our people outside this country keep asking what is going on with the party.
There is no organisation anywhere in the world where you wouldn’t have a crisis but what is important is the ability of the organisation to manage its crisis and remind everybody that this is a party owned by all members.
I have every confidence and let’s see what will happen because Rome wasn’t built in a day. This crisis didn’t start now, it started at the presidential convention and nobody was able to manage it until now. So, I’m happy that something is being done.
I want to appeal to the leaders of the various groups, if you love this party, it is time to shelve your ambitions and whatever personal plans and let us rebuild the party
You once said that Nyesom Wike was fighting for justice in the party but that same man is being accused of destroying the party now. What do you have to say about this development?
When you meet politicians, there are politicians and there are politrickers. Wike is like a son to me and when I saw the division as an elder of the party right from that convention, I told the then national chairman, Ayu, that you made a public statement that peradventure the presidential candidate comes from the North; you will resign your appointment.
I further reminded him that the founding fathers were able to set up the six geopolitical zones in this country and attached positions.
They resolved that no zone, whether you are minority or majority, will not go home with zero appointment and that was brilliant. But now, you are manipulating it and that was how the crisis started.
They invited me to say I should come and lead the group to fight that mess we created at the convention. Let me remind you that Ayu commented immediately after the results were announced that the real winner of democracy was Aminu Tambuwal.
I looked at this fellow and said how can you do this because you told us you will resign if the presidential candidate comes from the North but now you said you have four years and that you are not going anywhere.
Of course, people will react to that because it is against the party’s constitution to have the national chairman of the party and the presidential candidate from the same zone.
It is an anomaly. I will tell you openly that when we were having the meeting to counter the procedure they neglected the other side. They kept on going on with their campaigns and I was laughing, how would you win because a house divided against itself can never stand.
So, we went on and two days before the general election, we had a meeting in Abuja and it was only Governor Seyi Makinde and Wike that came for the meeting. They told us the stories of what they were going to do and all that and he was saying that out of the two candidates from the South, we can go with Bola Tinubu.
I looked around there and I said there is nobody here who knows Tinubu more than me. I said I can’t do that because it is wrong for you to leave this meeting and have a communiqué issued that we are going to support Tinubu.
He said, Sir, what do you want to do? My suggestion was to let everybody go back to their respective states and discuss it and decide whether they wanted Tinubu or Peter Obi.
That was how we ended up and there was no other meeting. One important thing I want to drop here is that during the campaign period, I stated it and I meant it that if by whatever measure Tinubu wins the election, I was going to get out of the country.
Do you think I was lying? Once they heard that, Tinubu sent his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, who is my little brother from Lagos State to see me and it was captured all over the media. He said Tinubu said I should please be calm and they came with options.
They said they were sorry because they knew they had wronged me. A few months after that Prince Tajudeen Olusi, who is our leader as my elder in our local government, came to my office with Justice Olorunnimbe with two other former deputy governors and they said they wanted to apologise. If they have apologised, what is it again but I will never leave my party.
Are you still on good terms with Wike?
Whether he is on good terms with me or not on good terms with me, when a child talks to his elder, to me, I don’t see that as disrespect. I have not set my eyes on him, I don’t even remember how long and I’m not living my life because of Wike.
I saw the shenanigans going on between him and Governor Siminalayi Fubara and I called the chairman of the Board of Trustees and said this is so important; you must be involved in this. Let us arrange to meet Fubara and Wike to find out the problem between the two of them and save our party.
Governor Fubara gave us an appointment, I’m not the chairman of the Board of Trustees and when I spoke to him, he accepted and then he set up a committee and I was a member. We went to Port Harcourt and met with Fubara and he told us his side of the story.
When I called Wike that we wanted to see him, he said, ‘Sir we are going to China; when I come back, I will see you.’ I had my plans and I was away from Nigeria but I kept in touch with the Board of Trustees chairman. All these boys are like my sons and I have not seen any of them for a very long time now.
If you have your biological children, sometimes some will misbehave and some will behave well and it is for you to be able to draw the ear of that one misbehaving and say don’t behave that way. I just came back a few days ago, and if I see him, I will tell him.
Nigerians are looking for other ways out. They have tested our party and they saw that we can be reliable, dependable and that we can manage better than the other party, which is a congregation of strange bedfellows
Are you still a member of the PDP Disciplinary Committee?
I said it from the beginning that I don’t pretend because I’m a General and my mission once it’s stated, I don’t back off just like that.
I looked at the list sent to me; I can never serve under Chief Tom Ikimi’s Disciplinary Committee because we were the people who were the founders of this party. He was in another party when we formed the PDP. I called Damagum and I said: ‘You want me to be a member under Ikimi at my age, I will never.’ Why will I deceive myself? What experiences and what is he bringing to the table as far as PDP is concerned?
I explained myself to them. He begged me to serve and I said I will never and I’m not joking about it. It is not a matter of disrespect. It is a matter of opinion. I know what I want and what I’m looking for now in the party. I can never serve on that committee. I told them and I wish them the best of luck.
What do you think is next for the PDP ahead of the 2027 general election?
The first step is what the governors did by telling everybody to calm down. Let us meet because the elders are going to meet with the Governors Forum and I’m sure they will discuss and look at the issues from the right to the left and come up with a solution.
“I looked at the list sent to me; I can never serve under Chief Tom Ikimi’s Disciplinary Committee because we were the people who were the founders of this party. He was in another party when we formed the PDP”
It is not a matter of trying to send anybody to jail. But for you not to be able to come together and talk, will lead to a breakdown of the party. I am an elder who has been in this party since 1998 and I was one of those elected in the first convention of the party in 1999. I saw it all and they handed it over to us.
When you now see people playing games and trying to defend their ambition and trying to defend things that are not noble, you must talk.
That is why we have the upper chamber, the Board of Trustees.
What else do I want to become, I’m going to be 80 years old, what am I looking for but to tell the truth, sustain the party and make sure that anybody trying to dance outside would be called to order.
So, it is the first step because we can’t resolve it within a week but at the next NEC meeting, we must take certain decisions and then we go there as a united party and as brothers and sisters, not as tribal enemies or religious bigots.
These things have taken over the party and I feel shocked because we were the people members of the G-14 people handed over to and we must reflect on that because that is what the public is looking for now.
You have seen what governance is; is this governance? Is this the way we want Nigeria to go? What is the cost of petrol? What is happening in the petroleum industry?
So, I would advise Atiku Abubakar and Wike to calm down; let us go to the elders meeting and I’m sure we will start this discussion from way back to that convention because that was where everything started going in the wrong direction.
You talked about the cost of fuel but you were the one who said we should be patient with President Tinubu. Why are you complaining about the cost of fuel?
You misread me because I said the President has never worked at the national level before, let us use the first year of his four years as a learning curve, so give him time. And I said from May 29, 2024, he has already spent one year, so it is more than enough for him to learn.
But has he learnt anything? I’m not telling you to give him time but give him the first year as a learning curve. I’m an engineer by profession and you don’t just graduate today and become a chief engineer tomorrow, it takes time. That time was for him to understand that he is now away from Lagos because Lagos is not Abuja.
You have all kinds of tribes from Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, and Borno back to South West, South-South and South East. It is a monumental issue for him to understand that in about an hour, he will meet people from different tribes with their problems.
So, it takes some time and what I said was that one year was enough and he has already done that. In any organisation, they give you a little time as a learning curve. So, what is he doing since May 29, 2024; that is the problem.
