Peoples Democratic Party Chieftain, Chief Bode George, says the party’s leaning towards the North in the 2023 presidential election was fundamental to its current problems.
He noted that the emergence of ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the PDP presidential candidate completely disorganised the party.
He added that Nigeria would have collapsed if Atiku had won the 2023 presidential election.
George spoke on Arise TV’s Morning Show on Friday [today] while speaking about the origin of the ongoing crisis rocking his party.
George said, “What am I looking for? Let us stand by the truth because it is only the truth that would liberate you. When we had that election, we divided the party (PDP) into two.
“If Atiku had won, I would have stayed in my house because I know for real (that) this country would never accept.
“If he had won that election, you think this country would have been stable? Because somebody from the North had just finished eight years and our own norm is that after the eight years, the presidential candidate must come to the South.”
He said by the time the former national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu left, it was too late to solve the problems, alleging that Ayu reneged on the agreement to resign as chairman if the presidential candidate emerged from the north.
“Ayu should have left long before the election. There was an agreement. It was the emergence of Atiku from the North as a presidential candidate that completely disorganised the norm of the party.
“The moment we interfered with it, manipulating the whole process to satisfy Atiku, that’s where the problem started. For us to pretend as if there was not a problem, we are just wasting time,” Chief George said.
George who said there were about three divisions in the party, said the opposition had lost its voice to challenge what he called the “nuisance and nuances going on in this country by the people in government.
“We’ve got some deeper problems in the party. The party is almost divided now into three major sections and it’s not working,” he said.
