Ayodele Olalere
Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has said Nigeria would have collapsed if the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, had won the 2023 presidential election.
He added that his presidency would have brought instability to Nigeria.
George spoke while appearing on Arise Television. He said that Atiku’s emergence as the PDP’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election could have caused significant problems for Nigeria and destabilized the country’s polity.
He noted that ethnicity was the determinant factor on who became the president adding that Nigerians were yearning for a power shift to the south after former President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year stint at the helm.
George further said the PDP was polarized following the emergence of Atiku as its presidential candidate
“By the time Ayu left, he should have left long before the election. There was an agreement. It was the emergence of Atiku from the north as a presidential candidate that completely disorganised the norm of the party,” George said.
He lamented that the whole process of choosing a presidential candidate in PDP was manipulated to favour Atiku which caused problems for the party and divided it into two.
“If Atiku had won, I would have stayed in my house because I know for real that in future he would collapse. This country would never accept it. If he had won that election you think this country would have been stable? Because somebody from the north had just finished eight years and our own norm is that after the eight years, the presidential candidate must come to the south. Those who are running around for appointments, we wish them best of luck,” he stated.
George added that the party is divided among three factions fighting for its control and expressed doubt on its ability to solve challenges facing the country in view of its unresolved internal crisis
Speaking on his decision to turn down appointment into the Disciplinary Committee of the party, George said he was not disposed to working under the committee’s chairman, Tom Ikimi, citing differences in party hierarchy and experience.
“I know Tom very well, he met me in this party. The founding fathers handed it over to us. So the culture of the party, the do’s and don’ts are with us. So you don’t make me be a member under somebody that I know in terms of hierarchy of the party, and say I should go and serve under him,” George explained.
