Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
and an aspirant to the position of the national chairman, Chief Bode
George, has warned leadership of the party to put its house in order so
as not to end up like the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP.
George said there was short time, between the party’s election and
the 2019 general elections, noting that the former ruling party needed a
person who can weather the storm and face the battle ahead.
He said the next chairman of the party must extract the seed inside palm kernel.
He said, “It is not a joke, because when you apply the harmer, you
have to watch your fingers. It is a major decision, not only for our
party but for the country.
“We need someone with a track record, someone who has been through
the storm. We must avoid the pitfalls of the past. This is not the time
for experimentation.
“Within the South-west, we have Ondo / Ekiti, one zone, Lagos/Ogun,
one zone, Osun / Oyo, another zone. The current National Vice chairman
of the party is from Ondo/Ekiti. It was zoned there because Lagos/Ogun,
Osun/Oyo, have all served their terms in the past. So now, it is turn of
Ogun/Lagos again.
“We are fighting a party that is now a colossus. Politics is war by
other means. So we must get it right if indeed we want to return to
power in 2019. I want all those contesting to also let us debate before
our members so we can tell them our plans and be able to convince them.
That is democracy.
“As a party, thank God we did not get a technical knockout; we only
got a bloody nose. But we must learn from our past mistakes. You don’t
just join an organisation and suddenly you want to head the
organisation, without requisite qualification, experience and knowledge.
You don’t bring a bambino to go and manage the people. I don’t want us
to end up like the ANPP.”
Meanwhile, one of the chairmanship aspirants of the PDP, Gbenga Daniel, has stated that he had no plan of stepping down for any of the contenders.