Bode George Backs Out as PDP Elects Chairman, Other Officials

Bode George Backs Out as PDP Elects Chairman, Other Officials

A former Deputy National Chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Bode George has dropped out of the race for the party chairmanship holding in Abuja today.

George in a statement said he was dropping on principle following the flouting of the party’s zoning arrangement which zoned the party to his home region, the South West — an agreement publicly reached in Port Harcourt, last year.

In a statement, Mr Bode George specifically blamed the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, whom he suggested might have bribed the delegates and may have thrown his support behind another contender for the position, Uche Secondus, who is from River State.

George also expressed anger over a comment made by Wike during a television interview that the Yoruba have not contributed anything to the PDP.

His statement reads in part;

“… this old, legitimate and morally sound micro-zoning principle has now been trashed, dumped in the waste bin, flung into the gutter by very little men who have compromised the pivotal moral anchor of civilised engagement for temporary selfish gains.

“Everywhere you look, the Yoruba people are now being brazenly insulted. The very traditional fiber of our founding fathers are now being trampled upon, debased and soiled by external forces and mercenary traitors within.

“I cannot be part of this screaming aberration. And as the Atona of Yoruba land, I do not expect any well-meaning, well disciplined, forthright, sincere Omoluabi of Yoruba land to continue with this deceit and shameful theater.

“I, hereby, withdraw from this brazen fraud and absolutely preconceived, monetized, mercantilist convention.

“The Yoruba people have been openly maligned. The Yoruba have been savaged, tormented, treated with contempt, scurried, scoffed at, humiliated and denigrated by little men whose sun will soon set.

“As a Yoruba patriot and the pathfinder of Yoruba land, I will stand by our people, I will stay with them thick or thin, I will fight for their good cause without compromising any ethics.

“The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike must as a matter of priority and ethical importance tender unreserved apology to the people of Yoruba land for his unguarded utterances on national television this morning. It was a show of shame,” he said.

Meanwhile, the remaining eight out of the nine original aspirants will be competing for the support of the 2,233 delegates at the convention, the Punch reports.

The aspirants are Uche Secondus, Gbenga Daniel, Jimi Agbaje, Rashidi Ladoja, Taoheed Adedoja, Tunde Adeniran, Raymond Dokpesi, Aderemi Olusegun.

The list shows that Abia has 90 delegates, Adamawa, 56; Akwa Ibom, 140; Anambra, 20; Bauchi, 53; Benue, 69; Borno, 63; Cross River, 86; Delta, 105 and Ebonyi, 80.

Others are Edo, 61; Ekiti, 92; Enugu, 101; Gombe, 64; Imo, 79; Jigawa, 65; Kaduna, 70; Kano, 100; Katsina, 76; Kebbi, 48; Kogi, 63; Kwara, 22; Lagos, 55; Nasarawa, 42; Niger, 63; Ogun, 61; and Ondo, 56.

The rest are Osun, 11; Oyo, 71; Plateau, 56; Rivers, 93; Sokoto, 51; Taraba, 77; Yobe, 44; Zamfara, 34; and the Federal Capital Territory, 24.

It was gathered that the number of delegates from Osun State was small because of the inconclusiveness of the congresses in the state.

Meanwhile,

South East delegates have said they would be voting for Secondus. After a closed-door meeting held in a hotel in Abuja on Friday, members of the South-East caucus of the PDP released a communique pledging their complete support for Secondus.

“Without prejudice to the right of other aspirants to this national chairmanship position, credible and transparent election, we have decided to back and vote for Prince Uche Secondus for the position of national chairman of our great party,” the statement stated.