Former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has clarified that his opposition to Bola Tinubu’s presidency is not personal. Despite their longstanding political differences, George expressed his willingness to work with Tinubu for the betterment of the nation.
In the past, George had been openly critical of Tinubu and even stated that he would go on exile if Tinubu became the president of Nigeria. He also recently stated that he would not congratulate Tinubu on his presidential election victory due to their differing governance approaches.
However, during a media interaction in Lagos, George stated that if President Tinubu sought his opinion on national matters, he would oblige him. He emphasized that his training and experiences, including military service, had been shaped by the country, and he believes in giving back to positively impact younger generations.
Regarding the ongoing crisis within the PDP, George attributed the party’s struggles to disagreements over zoning principles during the presidential campaign. He explained that dividing Nigeria into six geopolitical zones and ensuring fair distribution of top positions among them was intended to address the issue of majority-minority disparities in accessing opportunities.
“I have not seen any better system. Remember when APC first came, they said ‘we don’t believe in zoning, what nonsense, we are not going to do zoning,” he said.
“What did they do at the end? Where was Buhari from, where was Osinbajo from? Where was the speaker from? Where was the senate president from?
“That was the major problem the PDP discountenanced and landed us in the deck because the national chairman emerged from the same north where the presidential candidate of the party also came from.
“When we tried to point out to them that the south-west had been left behind and not included in their calculation, they said we should come back after the elections. Then we said okay, we would also see after the elections. Now, we have seen the consequence.’’
