Former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Deputy National Chairman (South-West) Chief Bode George, says he is willing to assist and collaborate with President Bola Tinubu if the latter consults him on matters of governance.
However, George insisted that his conflict with Tinubu is not personal, despite the fact that he has frequently opposed his bid for the presidency and criticised the results of the election that led to his inauguration.
On June 1st, 2023, while fielding questions with journalists in his Ikoyi office, Lagos, Bode George, a staunch critic of Tinubu, said he was open to working with him for the interest of the country.
The PDP leader had previously stated that he disagreed with Tinubu’s “methodologies of governance,” and that if Tinubu were to win the presidency, he would leave the nation.
He, however, added another dimension to his disposition, on Thursday, when he said, “If he comes and says, “Look, what do you feel about this? How do you feel about that? Let’s work together in the interest of this country, why would I refuse? This nation also trained me.”
“The military trained me. There is no part of the world that I have not been to, training and doing exercises. This country trained us. So, we must be able to put something back into the system that would also positively impact the younger ones, to put a smile on their faces.’’
On the prolonged crisis in the PDP, Bode George said the disagreements on the principle of zoning during the campaign for the presidency “landed the party in a deck”.
“They divided Nigeria into six geo-political zones and sought out six top positions in Nigeria, to which each zone would go home with one position or the other.
“After eight years, all the positions in the north will come to the south, so that the issue of the majority perpetually getting the goodies and the minority just being onlookers will be resolved.
“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, and 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.’’