A former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has predicted that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would collapse before the next general elections in 2027.
In an interview with TUNDE THOMAS, George accused President Bola Tinubu of running a one-man show in the APC. He spoke on other issues.
Many Nigerians are getting worried by the worsening state of insecurity in the country, especially the recent killings in Benue State and other parts of the country. As an elder statesman, what are your thoughts on this development?
The first responsibility of any government is the protection of the lives and property of its citizens. We are losing track. I listened to one of my former seniors in the military, General Yakubu Danjuma, who said that even the Army has been compromised in the fight against insurgency. I was shocked to read that. If the Army is compromised, then where are we going?
Insecurity has become a festering sore and a national embarrassment that must be urgently tackled. Some recommendations were made during the 2014 national confab, which was set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan. Those recommendations could have helped us address the security challenge and other problems confronting Nigeria today if they had been implemented.
Having discussed the recommendations at the Federal Executive Council, the report was then handed over to the National Assembly under the leadership of Senator David Mark, but Mark said there was no time to discuss the report, and this was how the National Assembly failed to act on the recommendations by the confab. But now look at the irony of life, it is the same Benue state where Mark comes from that has been under the siege of terrorists. If Mark had then ensured that the report was discussed and that those recommendations were implemented, the bloodbath that occurred in Benue State would have been averted.
When Buhari took over in 2015, he just dumped the confab reports and recommendations. He was not interested in the confab reports, and this was how the nation was robbed of a golden opportunity to address a series of problems confronting the nation.
Power has been too centralised in Abuja; we need to return to a true practice of federalism. Every state must have the power to control whatever resources they have in their states for the benefit of its people. Of course, we will revert to the central government, but we don’t have to give so much power to the centre. Over-concentration of power in the hands of the central or federal government in Abuja is not helping us. It has become a big problem. The same centre, every resource that is garnered from anywhere parts of the country goes back to the centre for redistribution. However, this has not been helping us. It is not working.
But thank God that we have now realised that something has to be done. Thank God, many Nigerians are now calling for State Police, which was part of the 2014 Confab recommendations dumped by Buhari’s government. We’ve been shouting, let’s have state police for a long time, but nobody seems to be interested. I mean those in authority, but it is heart-warming that today, there is a consensus that the state police is long overdue. State Police is community-based. They will monitor the movements of people. Policing is about the grassroots. When a stranger comes in, they know immediately.
If we have local police here, would anybody, a foreigner, a foreign body, be able to penetrate us? No. The Nigerian Police will still be there. Creating the State Police will not affect them or their work. They will co-exist. Look, go to America. They have what is called the County police. That’s local government police. They also have State Police. Then they also have the FBI. Look at one man who just murdered somebody in Minnesota. Within two, three days, they arrested him. We should no longer play politics with the establishment of the State Police. It is long overdue.
So, I humbly appeal to President Tinubu that the federal government should expedite action on the establishment of state police. We should not play politics with state police creation. It is an idea or project that will bring a lot of benefits to the country. Power is transient. It doesn’t last forever, so our leaders should do something positive that can positively impact the lives of the good people of Nigeria, and they will be remembered for that.
You know, all these things that are happening with somebody just coming from somewhere, putting petrol in people’s homes and burning the place would not have happened, or they would have been checkmated if the state police were there. The local police, if they are well equipped, would have stopped them. These terrorists or foreigners, yes, whoever they are, would have been challenged by the state police because if you are not from that area, they would have said, What are you looking for here at three o’clock in the morning? Identify yourself.
You see that man who recently murdered some people in Minnesota in the United States was stopped by a local police officer, a county police officer. The accused dressed up like a local police officer. But the state police officers saw him, and he said, Yeah, you are not part of us. Who are you? If those in authority were still waiting for the FBI, the accused would have gotten away. So why can’t we, for the sake of this nation, the younger generation, and those kids that were murdered senselessly, expedite action on the creation of state police?
The President and members of his team should wake up. They should take, either in whole or in part, those recommendations by the 2014 confab that will help move Nigeria forward.
Look at Senator David Mark, he is from Benue State, and if he had done the needful at that time by ensuring that the Senate under his leadership gave attention to the 2014 confab reports and recommendations, the recent massacre in Benue State would have been averted.
David Mark is crying now, but he cannot exonerate himself. These things are not for personal gain. We have been talking about the need for us to set up a state police. The Federal Police, that’s the Nigerian Police, how many personnel do they have to police the country effectively? They are overwhelmed. The police personnel we have are grossly inadequate to cope with the nation’s huge population.
What’s your reaction to the wave of defections to the APC by many notable politicians in the country?
All these people jumping ship, rushing to join APC, I pity them because they are going nowhere. They are jumping from the frying pan into the fire. In APC, you can’t say the truth. You cannot suggest what is right. They will shoot you down. Why are they rushing there? For what? They must surely have skeletons in their cupboards, and that’s why they are rushing to join APC so that their sins can be forgiven.
You were talking about the need for us to revisit the 2014 national confab…
Yes, for us to move forward as a nation, there is a compelling need for us to revisit the 2014 national confab. There are a lot of injustices in this country which we need to address.. For instance, Lagos State, the most populated state, the largest electoral state in the country, has only 20 local governments. Ogun State, the next-door state to Lagos state, also has 20 local governments. Now, go to Kano State; they have 44 local governments. Jigawa State has 27, and Katsina has 33. And all these local governments collect money from the Federation account every 30 days. But what is the criterion being used to give Kano State, which doesn’t generate huge revenue to the Federal government‘s purse, more revenue allocation than Lagos State? Where is justice, equity, and fairness in this? We should find a way to address some of these issues; otherwise, it is like we’re sitting on a powder keg.
Now is the time for us to revisit the 2014 national confab. That confab report and recommendations should be exhumed from where the Buhari government dumped them. Nigerians should be allowed to read, discuss and debate the confab’s reports. I believe that some recommendations in that report will be of help in moving Nigeria forward. They are a panacea to Nigeria’s problem. You can see that the 1999 constitution, which we have been running to date, has not brought peace to the country. To date, has it brought peace? Has it brought equality? Has it brought a modicum of civility? Nothing. Nothing.
We should get reports of that conference out and implement those aspects that will make Nigeria a great nation. That’s all. The whole generation of people from all over this country was represented at the confab. I have to doff my cap for Justice Kutigi. He was the chairman of the 2014 National Conference. He was fair, he was just, and he was equitable. He allowed every debate, allowed everybody’s contribution. Where is that report? Why are we not implementing the report? We think it is political. We are leaving the substance and now chasing the shadow.
Is this nation moving forward now? Who is safe now? What is safe and secure? Now, America is saying, Nigeria, don’t come to our country again. All those brilliant Nigerians who are in America or who want to travel abroad should start thinking. They are telling them in America that whether you have the certificates or you don’t have the normal passport, or whether you have a green passport, or yellow passport, or a blue passport, Nigerians are no longer welcome. They can check you out and shove you out of the place anytime. Home is the best. Home is always home. But we must develop the home and allow the home to grow in a civilised manner. That’s all. All these things about insecurity, about this challenge or the other, the solution lies in the implementation of that confab report.
As a PDP leader and elder, what is the way out of the lingering crisis in the party?
We don’t have any crisis in the PDP? We don’t. It is greediness, selfishness, and avarice on the part of some individuals within the party that is causing what you are referring to as a crisis within the party. Look, the founding fathers of the party, in their wisdom, designed a model that divided the country into six geo-political zones. They also created six top positions to take care of each geo-political zone. They divided Nigeria into North West, North East, North-Central, and then South-West, South-East, and South-South.
So, having divided the country into six geo-political zones and also creating six top positions, it then guarantees that each zone holds one position at one point or the other. It was when some greedy individuals started manipulating the system that the problem started.
For example, the agreement was that if a President emerged from the North, then the party Chairman must be from the South. Then, if the President emerges from the North, and then, for the next election, it must be from the South that the party’s candidate must emerge from.
What was going on in the minds of Atiku Abubakar and his team when, in 2023, he decided to contest as the presidential candidate of PDP, knowing full well that Buhari, a fellow Northerner, had just completed eight years’ tenure as President? General Buhari is from the North, and he was in office for eight years. Atiku should have allowed somebody from the South to run as President to succeed Buhari. The candidate could be from the South-East, South-South, or South-West. As long as that candidate is from the South, that’s equity. But Atiku failed to do so, and this created a breakdown in the party.
So some of us who are life members of the party’s Board of Trustees, the upper chamber of the party, the owners of the party, decided to intervene by speaking out in order to ensure that normalcy returns to the party. The moment some greedy individuals tampered with the unique arrangement put in place by the party’s founding fathers was when this crisis started, but now we are trying to resolve the problem. We are making serious efforts to resolve all issues that led us to this quagmire. It is a problem we can resolve. And some of us who took over from the founding fathers have said, no, there’s nothing wrong with the way the founding fathers set up this party. There must be a spirit of give and take. We should not see this thing as a do-or-die affair. That’s all. I always cite one example. Baba Alex Ekwueme was one of the party’s founding fathers. He contested twice to be Nigeria’s president on the PDP platform. Twice, he lost, but he didn’t bring down the roof. That should have been a good example to some of our desperate members who wanted to contest to be this or that. But greed, avarice, and self-centredness will not allow some top members of PDP to emulate the spirit of the late Baba Ekwueme.
So, if the rules of the party are respected, there will be sanity. That’s what we are now bringing to the table. If you cannot abide by the rules of the party, you get the hell out. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Nobody is bigger than the party. Nobody. It is not like the APC, where my friend, Baba Bola Tinubu said he owns the party. Nobody owns PDP. It’s a collective responsibility, and no individual is bigger than the party. We will now enforce the party’s rules. No matter what contributions you’ve made in the past, people who started the party made more. Of all those founding fathers of PDP, how many are still alive? Let these greedy and boastful members of the party be careful.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, a PDP member, publicly endorsed President Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC for a second term. We have rules in PDP. As an individual, I would have said, Wike, you are fired for endorsing Tinubu, who is not a member of PDP, but we don’t do that in PDP. An individual can’t decide on behalf of the party. It is the NEC of the party that has the power to fire any party member of Wike’s status.
So we will meet. We will discuss. We will debate the issue. It’s not that the party is just looking. No, but because we haven’t had any serious NEC since all this silly crisis started, we have not been able to meet. Now we are getting closer to having another NEC meeting. And the issue will be discussed. It will be debated, and an appropriate action will be taken against him.
He will have the opportunity to defend himself. That’s our party. It’s not a private enterprise of any individual. We follow the rules. Wike benefited a lot from the PDP. On the party’s platform, he became the local government chairman, Chief of Staff to former Governor Amaechi, then he later became Minister of State for Education under former President Goodluck Jonathan. On the same platform of the PDP, he became the governor of Rivers State for eight years. The fact that you have been contributing this or that to the party doesn’t mean that Wike owns PDP. He can be subjected to sanctions if he errs.
I fought a series of battles with the opposition party in Lagos State without qualms, and without boasting about it. I believe in this party deeply. That’s why I joined it, and I will remain in this party until God calls me home. I won’t jump ship.
You mean you can’t join APC like many politicians that are rushing to join the party now?
Is APC a party? No. APC is a congregation of strange bedfellows. You can see what happened in Gombe State recently, where they smashed chairs on the head of the party’s former National Chairman, Abdullahi Gandujje. They were running here and there, enveloped in confusion. That’s just the beginning. It’s going to spread. Because where there is no justice, where there is no fairness, where there is no equity, such an edifice will crumble.APC surely will crumble. It’s just a matter of time.APC will soon crumble. The party may crumble before 2027.
That’s why I pity all those rushing to join the party. All those rushing to join the APC, let them go. For me, it is good riddance to bad rubbish. Unlike in APC, we tell our people in PDP that nobody owns the party. There are rules and regulations. If you don’t follow those rules and regulations, we will throw you out.
What’s your reaction to the coalition that has just been formed by former VP Atiku, el-Rufai, David Mark and others?
Good luck to Atiku and others who formed the coalition, but the PDP will not be part of any coalition. Never! Others can come and join us, but PDP will never be part of any coalition to face APC. PDP on its own is capable of defeating APC, and this is what will happen in 2027. Like I said earlier, others can come and join us to face APC, but PDP will never join others because, on our own strength, we will defeat APC in 2027. Others can come and join us. We don’t close our doors. Let them come. But when you join us, you must be ready to abide by the party’s rules. We will no longer condone indiscipline in the party. You must be ready to abide by the rules; otherwise, we will show you the way out. We won’t allow you to be manipulating the rules set down by the founding fathers of the party. Never again. |
What’s your reaction to the situation in Rivers State, where the Federal government declared a state of emergency?
Recent events in Rivers State are indications that the administration of our democracy remains problematic. The declaration of emergency by the federal government is a potential threat to our democratic framework. Before and after the declaration of emergency, Rivers state witnessed no significant incident of violence, but a group entangled in this manufactured man-made crisis shamelessly praised President Tinubu’s decision, thus revealing that the motivations behind the declaration were politically motivated. The crisis in Rivers state is being instigated by some powerful individuals so that the APC can take Rivers through the back door, which is very unfortunate.
Is this democracy or dictatorship that we are practising in this country? My message to President Tinubu is that he should realise that power is transient and not absolute.The power you wield today is not permanent, and you only know the beginning of a crisis; you don’t know where and when it will end. There is a dangerous slide into anarchy in the polity, and if the ruling APC and its leaders don’t apply the break now, the wrong direction they are heading may lead to political collapse.
