Chief Olabode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has opened up on why he ate his words about leaving the country after President Tinubu emergence.
George said the president, thorough his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, ask him to reconsider his decision to leave Nigeria following the election victory.
Recall that in 2022 after Tinubu announced his presidential bid in January, George threatened to leave the country.
Reflecting on the development, George, during an appearance on Arise TV on Wednesday, recounted how Gbajabiamila visited him with a message from Tinubu, urging him to reconsider his position.
“During the campaign period, I stated it and I meant it—that if by whatever measure Bola Tinubu wins this election, I was going to get out.
“Once they heard that, Tinubu sent his chief of staff, who is my little brother from Lagos State, Femi Gbajabiamila, to appeal to me.
“He came to say, ‘My boss said I should tell you, please be calm’. They knew they had wronged me. They said they were sorry.”
Speaking further, George stated that the intra-party crisis rocking the PDP began during the lead-up to the 2023 presidential election.
“The last convention, the presidential convention, was when everything started, and instead of arresting it, they were exacerbating it.
“With all that, you cannot have the chairman of the party and the presidential candidate from one side of the divide—they didn’t listen.”
He also recalled how he confronted Iyorchia Ayu, the former party chair, regarding his commitment to step down if a northern presidential candidate was nominated.
“Ayu made a public statement that peradventure the presidency comes from the north, he would resign. But when the results were announced, he said, ‘I have four years; I’m not going anywhere’.
“This is breach of trust! Of course, people would react to that. It’s against the party constitution to have the chairman of the party and the presidential candidate from the same zone — it is an anomaly.
“I want to appeal to the leaders of the various groups in the party that it is time to shelve your personal ambitions and let us rebuild the party.
“There is no organisation in the world without crisis, but the ability to rebuild the crisis is needed.
“This crisis didn’t start now; it started from the presidential convention and nobody was able to manage it.
“Atiku and Wike should calm down and let us go to the elders meeting where we would start this discussion, to trace this crisis back to that convention, because that was where everything started going in the wrong direction.”
