LEADERS of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have begun moves aimed at saving the jailed former chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), who was also the National Vice Chairman, (South-West) of the party, Chief Olabode George.

A source in the party said that behind the visits of PDP bigwigs to Kirikiri Prisons, which has been George’s abode in the last one week was the overriding feeling that the PDP chieftain’s fate was largely determined by politics rather than legality.

A source said that the feeling among the members of the party was that George did not deserve the treatment being meted out to him, as his case was decided on the altar of politics rather than legality.

Some leaders of the PDP in the South-West were said to have taken up the challenge of getting Chief George off the hook and they had visited George in Kirikiri on Tuesday.

No fewer than seven chieftains of the party were in Kirikiri to pay solidarity with the jailed PDP leader on Tuesday.

Those who visited Bode George, according to sources, included Board of Trustees (BOT) members from the South West, led by Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, who sympathised with one of them as well as prayed for him.

A source said that George was assured that the team, working in league with some other leaders, will resolve the political arm of his travails.

The group, according to sources, is also ready to meet with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and find ways of resolving the differences between the former President and George.

It was learnt that George offended the powers that be in 2008 after he was tipped to occupy the seat of the Chief of Staff to President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The presidency was said to given the go ahead for his arrest and trial after his comments in the media on the EFCC was found offensive. The trial eventually landed him in the current ordeal.

A series of movements across the country has been flagged off as well with consultations going up at the highest levels.

Sources informed that teams have been dispatched to strategic cities, including Abuja, Kaduna and Kano, where the message of a sober George is being delivered.

The group that is working on the claim that George was “dealt with” on political grounds believed that the man’s travails stemmed from his publicised interview which tended to denigrate the government’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

A source said that the trial of the former NPA Chairman commenced after the interview in which he dared the EFCC to charge him to court over the N85 billion fraud.

George, who served as Chairman of NPA between 2001 and 2003, was on Monday, October 26, sentenced to two years in prison after he was convicted along with five other members of the board.

The offence, according to the court, included disobedience to lawful order, abuse of office and contract splitting.

Those convicted alongside George were the former Managing Director of NPA, Alhaji Aminu Dabo, Captain Olugbenga Abidoye, Alhaji Zanna Madaribe, Alhaji Aminu Tafida, and Engineer Sule Aliyu.

The Lagos High Court said they were guilty of 35 out of the 68-count charge brought against them by the EFCC in the N85 billion contract scam.

The trial, which commenced on August 8, 2008, initially had 182-count charge but was later amended to 69-count charge. It lasted 14 months.

From unset, i believe evrything is a planned work as pdp will influence d court of appeal