Kashamu’s dollars can’t buy PDP leadership — Bode George

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Chief Olabode George

CHIEF Olabode Goerge, a former Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in this interview, calls on the warring factions in the party to sheathe their swords. He identified personal interest and lack of commitment as factors responsible for the squabble in the party. He opines how the crisis can be resolved. Excerpts By Wahab Abdullah & Dapo Akinrefon CAN the PDP  come out of  its crisis? I saw the problem coming and when you see a problem coming your way the best you do as a logical mind, is to avoid it or correct it immediately. You know, we are in a state of flux now. Of course, this happens when you have a political disappointment.

You have to pick up yourself and get up where you have fallen and keep going. I believe that we can still resolve the crisis because they are not written in stones, both sides can still shift grounds and come to a mid point in the interest of the future generations of this country, in the interest of the party. Why I am saying that is if there is no credible opposition, with the PDP being split, there would be no effective opposition. Whatever the government does, PDP will not be in a good position to advise, correct or go against them. That is why I have been appealing to both sides to cool their temper. Once you run into parallel conventions, you are almost at the brink of total collapse. We can disagree on issues because peoples’ perceptions differ; but we must never be disagreeable. We can disagree, we can discuss and that is why I am still appealing to both sides. Two wrongs don’t make a right. We are in the political field. We should be able to play it the way it is done in the civilized world, there is no perpetuity in everything. Let us look at the scenarios: I have seen that there are just two major issues. Emergence of presidential candidate The issue of the chairman and the issue of emergence of presidential candidate and when should the chairman leave office. One side is saying that the chairmanship should be in the South now, others are saying wait till 2018.

These are not fundamentals, we can meet, remove all emotions, bring back all the wherewithal of the resilience of the party as exhibited from the beginning and come to terms. If they continue on parallel lines, it will never meet. A divided house is a defeated house, I am appealing to both sides. As an elder of the party, as a member of the BoT, two wrongs can never make a right. Let us forget about these differences, come to the table and discuss. We have had worse crises like this in the party, everybody has made their own point, all cannot be right, all cannot be wrong. Individuals should forget their personal interest.

Are you saying that personal interest is what is responsible for the crisis? Chief Olabode George It is a combination of too many things: personal interests and lack of commitment. This nation is on the threshold, serious crossroads. We don’t know whether to turn right or left but of course because the new party, APC, is new in the governance of this country, they are still groping in the dark on what they should do. We must assist. A credible opposition is required in this country now that would advise because real politics will start in 2018. I like the issue of Buhari saying please give me time. We know how it can be when you come into government fresh, there are so many areas to be blocked, so many policies coming and it takes a critical mind to start sorting things out. Since they asked us to please give them time, let us give them time. I cannot start poking things in their mind now or in their heads because we have a log in our own eyes why should I be talking about the spec in their eyes.

There is a log now in the PDP’s eyes which we must remove. I don’t think the PDP is beyond redemption. You see all sorts of court cases being filed all over the place, that is the height of indiscipline. Internal dynamics of the party This party has it in our constitution that no party member goes to court without exhausting the internal dynamics of the party. All these people flying in and out of court, immediately, should be suspended from the party. I believe there was a time a Supreme Court judgement of non interference by the judiciary in the internal wrangling or internal affairs of political parties. The judges, who are now firing injunctions should know that there is a subsisting judgement by the Supreme Court. I am not a lawyer but we have been in this game for long. It is an unnecessary intervention and it is creating a crisis that can spell doom and consume everybody including the judiciary. I want the Chief Justice of the Federation to save this nation’s democracy, they should play the role of arbiter and not interfere in the internal affairs of political parties. Seeing all these, two things came to my mind: should I get off and lock my doors.

Talking about getting off, you actually hinted that you would go on exile. Do you still intend to do that considering what is happening in your party? (Laughs) It is not as if I want to run and go and live outside, no, but we have a lot of brilliant Nigerians especially the younger generations coming. Why should things be done as if we are still in the 14th century? In the last one week, I have been wondering what the problem is all about? Are they insurmountable? Can’t we sit down and discuss without emotions? That is why I am pleading with both sides to please sheathe their swords otherwise, a divided house is a defeated house, which means both sides will be losers in the long run. There are worries that there is no rallying point in the PDP which brings me to the role of the former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. What steps has he taken to call both sides together since he is supposed to the leader of the party? You know, he is not even in the country now.

I remember the last meeting we had with him in the Villa, where he thanked everybody for their role and he was on the final departure, he said he wanted one year sabbatical. One year sabbatical That is what he said. Some of us were shocked and said he cannot go for sabbatical. Until a presidential candidate emerges, he remains the leader of the party. Some people may not agree with this. In the United States of America, whoever emerges the president, automatically becomes the leader of the party. In their own case. Maybe out of experience, the president appoints the chairman of the party it is not elective until another president comes.

The chairman is there to manage the affairs of the party. In our own, there is a void, there is no Villa anymore where you can run to as a fallback position. All the appendages that goes with the villa, you no longer have them. The only rallying point of the party is the BoT, which should be an independent arbiter. If you want to be an independent arbiter, you should call all sides to sheathe their swords. I am begging both sides that it is not too late. As a member of a party that was established in 1998, a party that is not tribal in any format.

Now that there is no headship, maybe that is why it is difficult to tell everybody to sheathe their sword that is why I want to appeal, in the interest of the coming and  generations, who will read on the pages of history, they must find a solution. You cannot win it all; you win some, you lose some. On both sides, I know there will be a flash up and in medical terms, you have a midwife but a midwife cannot be the new born baby. So, whoever is managing the affairs of the party, should not sit and decide who takes A or takes B, for the purposes of equity and justice.

The congresses held in the South west were all parallel, allegedly spearheaded by Senator Buruji Kashumu, who is perceived to be interested in emerging leader of the party in the South west. What is your take on this? All these things that Buruji is doing, he claims he has been in business but in the files of politics, he is still learning the ropes and getting to interfere in states that have no bearing with his own state, Ogun is a misnomer. Management of the resources He has misunderstood what it takes. Leaders don’t manipulate themselves into power.

I have advised him severally to cool off, that this his idea is annoying a lot of people in the Southwest. You know, without trying to denigrate anybody, the zone that produced the first engineer, accountant, doctor and others, you now think by flashing dollar before people, you can take over. I would advise him to cool off because it will lead him to nowhere. But some members of your party are loyal to him? They are. Some will follow him because they see politics as a source of income to them and that is not politics, that is poli tricks. Politics is the management of the resources of the community for the betterment of that community.

Kashamu

These politricians following Buruji and Buruji himself, see it as an investment and that there must be return on investment. Let them go to the capital market and do that there. It shouldn’t be a free lunch for them and gradually, our country is moving in that direction because a lot of those educated persons, who refused to join politics, now know that they cannot leave it in the hands of jokers. Politics is too serious an issue to be left in the hands of jokers because your future is involved. Some people see you as being desperate to become the national chairman of the party. Are you? If they know who I am, they won’t say that. Everybody has been destined in life to be whatever he wants to become

. I won’t go out of my way and be hustling and I cannot force my way. Knowledgeable and intellectually sound I am not desperate at my age because anybody who takes the mantle of office now at the top most level, will be going round the clock. Do you have fears that if urgent steps are not taken, the crisis may lead to the collapse of the party? God has a way of doing things, if you are careful, knowledgeable and intellectually sound, you won’t jump from frying pan to fire. Which party do you want to go? Some are saying you can just merge and start up another party. Can you have a baby today and it becomes an adult that same day? How do you do it? When the PDP came in, there was a common denominator. People like Chief Bola Ige was in our party, Chief Solomon Lar, Ciroma, Abubakar Rimi, Alex Ekwueme were all there.

These were people who couldn’t see eye to eye but were forced to come together because they had a common denominator. That is why the PDP is the only party that has the full colours of Nigeria; they should not allow it to go down. It will be impossible to set up another party like the PDP. It is not easy. You don’t say because your house is leaking, you then move out to be a tenant, you are landlord there and you must fit it. We can fix it if everybody should bury their hatchet and personal interest.

It is a matter of bringing everybody together and it is possible because I have been at the meetings, I have listened to both sides. People have called me names because I called on both sides to sheathe their swords. NB: This interview was conducted before last weekend’s parallel conventions of the party in Abuja and Port-Harcourt 21 0 2 0


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