Bode George
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party may be in for a fresh crisis as one of its staunch members and leaders, Chief Bode George withdrew from the chairmanship race.
He did not quietly withdraw, he sent scathing words to those he claimed have hijacked the party.
George, was a foundation member and former national vice-chairman of the party. For weeks as he campaigned around the country, he had his eyes fixed on becoming the chairman.
But hours after he vowed not to quit the race at the party’s convention in Abuja on Saturday, he changed his mind, following some signals he noticed. First was that the party appears to have jettisoned zoning, that would have made the South West region produce the chairman.
Secondly, he noticed that the party has been hijacked by mercenaries and money bags and that the party chairmanship has been sold to the highest bidder. Thirdly, he felt offended by what he perceived to be Governor Nyesom Wike’s insult on George’s Yoruba race.
He demanded an apology from Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and generally pointed out that the party is once again careering to self-destruction. To all the forces that have taken over the party, George has something unsparing for them: The Peoples Democratic Party has now mangled and distorted its soul and spirit. There is no morality here anymore. There is no sanity or any sense of enlightened civility.
Part of the speech reads: “The zoning principle, which was publicly reinforced last year in Port Harcourt, had specifically and rightly affirmed the South-West as the zone to produce the National Chairman. This binding proclamation was based on equity, fairness and natural balance that hold any organisation together.
But 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.
It appears the PDP is now bent on self destruction. It has obviously allowed money moguls to dictate its thematic largeness. The party has lost its soul. It has lost its principled beginning and the predications of righteousness. It has traded the finer principles of democratic guidance and equity for the squalid, dirty and shameful resort to mercenary agenda where nothing matters save the putrid, oafish gains of the moment.
The Peoples Democratic Party has now mangled and distorted its soul and spirit. There is no morality here anymore. There is no sanity or any sense of enlightened civility. NAN
