Oladipupo Awojobi 
A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George has stated that the presidential candidate of the party must come from the Southern part of the country, while it would return to the North in 2031.
Speaking against the backdrop of the movement of some top politicians to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to form a coalition on Channel’s Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Bode George added that no individual is bigger than the party, and that the party would continue to follow its constitutional provisions.
“For the election of 2027, the presidential candidate of the PDP must come from the South, and in 2031, it must return to the North.
“Those who want to manipulate everything for themselves have no regard for the corporate image of this country and the corporate image of our party. There is no individual in our party that will tell you that he owns the party.
“There was a time when President Bola Tinubu said that he owns the All Progressives Congress (APC); no individual owns our party. It would be a collective decision of the party on who will be our presidential candidate.
“We need to show the electorate that this party can be trusted and that the party has a system that is acceptable to them. That is the definition of democracy, you are telling the people to trust you and they tell you to go and manage the resources for the betterment of Nigeria, not for your own betterment or that of your children,” he said.
The former military officer added that certain sections of the constitution of the party explicitly stated that there shall be zoning of party offices for the purposes of justice, fairness and equity, but that those who were affected opposed it.
He said: “I was shocked that the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the party could jump ship. I am reassuring members of the party that Nyesom WIke does not own the party, so we don’t need to assuage him.
“Every day, we say WIke did this or that, he can talk, but the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party is the second highest authority in our party. They say he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. We need to convince Nigerians that there is no individualism in the PDP.”
On those that are leaving the party in droves, Chief George said that this has happened before, and compared the party to an ‘Iroko’ tree in the bush, which he said is deep rooted, adding that no matter the storm, it will weather it.
“We have the fear of the Almighty God in us. Every time we have a meeting, we thank God with all our hearts. In anything we do in life, you must put the fear of God first. This is the way we were taught. This is why prayers are very important and honesty of purpose is very essential. I am convincing Nigerians that we have come back, our National Secretary, Senator Sam Anyanwu, is an individual. There were certain crises, the major crisis started with the presidential primary we did two years ago, and they were not able to resolve it. Now they are leaving their father’s house to build another house. Will it be a house that will be as solid, respectable, responsible, reliable, and dependable as the one they left?
“The PDP never closes its doors, it is like a police station, where people go in and go out. If you decide to come back, as a father, we will accept you. Many of these people you are talking about had walked out of the PDP before, did the party collapse?
“No, it didn’t collapse. Where they went, they felt that it was better but came back because we have divine commitment. They came back and we accepted them. We don’t drive people, if they want to join our team, they can come back. All we are saying is that we will not allow any individual to manipulate the party,” he said.
