Former PDP Deputy National Chairman Bode George has cautioned against permitting former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to run for the party’s presidential nomination for the fourth time in 2027, stating that doing so would be disastrous for the opposition party.
George warned PDP stakeholders in an interview with The Guardian that running Atiku will ensure again another defeat in the upcoming general election.
According to reports, the PDP chieftain chastised Atiku for excluding the South from the upcoming 2023 presidential election. He claimed that this caused animosity within the party and sparked the G-6 governors, led by former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, to rebel against the PDP’s nominee.
Atiku is not looking out for the interests of the South. What does it say if the South-West received nothing while he was in charge and he even dared to offer us something in exchange for our rejection of the election? “What?” George asked.
If another Northerner were to get the PDP ticket in 2027, he added, it would be a smack in the face and an act of cheating.
According to Geroge, “I can guarantee you that no sane Southerner would fully support a Northern candidate in 2027.” I shall never do that until 2031, when the eight years must have passed in the South.
George: Without PDP, Obi Cannot Win
In reference to Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), George said that only the PDP could fulfill Obi’s aspirations.
“I don’t have anything against Obi,” the PDP leader stated. In actuality, the Labour Party lacks the national organization necessary to oppose Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027, despite his Southern origins.
“Only the PDP possesses the strength, support, and taproot necessary to defeat the APC.” Also, I don’t think it will be as simple for Tinubu to be re-elected as some people think. Only if the PDP leaders act morally and uphold justice, equity, and fairness will he be defeated in 2027.
urges Wike to make amends with the PDP
Additionally, George fervently pleaded with Nyesom Wike to change his mind about opposing the PDP.
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“You should let the national interest take precedence over your personal suffering, even though you and others may have been harmed,” he urged. We have to work together to rebuild Nigeria.
In his criticism of the Federal Government’s meddling in state politics, the PDP mainstay warned that if caution is not taken, its meddling in the affairs of Lagos, Rivers, and Osun States, as well as the Emirate struggle in Kano, might turn into a national security crisis.
It is risky for the federal government to get involved in these states’ affairs too much. He said, “It is a sign that could lead to bigger instability in the country.”
George said that Nigeria must adopt true federalism and stressed the necessity of constitutional reforms as a long-term solution to the country’s problems.
George went on, “Resolving the fundamental flaws in the 1999 Constitution is the ultimate solution to the myriad of problems confronting Nigeria.” Nigeria must be reorganized in order to attain true federalism.
