₦airaland Forum

Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George,said yesterday that there were chances that party’s presidential flag bearer in the 2023 election,Alhaji Atiku Abubakar would have failed as president if he had won at the polls.

He said Atiku’s emergence as president in 2023 would have created many problems for the country including unstable polity.

Fielding questions on Arise Television, George said the PDP is crisis ridden today because of the choice of Atiku as its presidential candidate at a time the party also had its chairman (Iyorchia Ayu) from the north.

“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,” he said.

Continuing, he said: “The moment we interfered with it, manipulating the whole process to satisfy Atiku, that’s where the problem started. For us to pretend as if there was not a problem, we are just wasting time.

“Let us stand by the truth because it is only the truth that would liberate you. When we had that election, we divided the party (PDP) into two.”

He did not see Atiku succeeding as president under the circumstances.

His words: “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.

“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 said the PDP has no moral right to query the “nuisances and nuances going on in this country by the people in government.”

The PDP, according to him,“ got some deeper problems”, with three factions battling for the soul of the party “and it’s not working.”

He declined his appointment as a member of the Disciplinary Committee set up to sanction members alleged to have worked against the party in the 2023 general elections.

He said he could not work under Chief Tom Ikimi who is the chairman of the committee.

He said: “I know Tom very well, he met me in this party. The founding fathers handed 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. I made that observation to them. And they said are you going to come, I said no, I’m not.

“I will not serve under Ikimi. I’m being very frank with myself. How much information or depth does he have concerning our party? You don’t do things like that. It’s an observation and I’ve told the Chairman. At this age, I’m ready to stay home.

“Just setting up a committee, where will it lead you?”

He said: “I know Tom very well, he met me in this party. [b] The founding fathers handed 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 [/b]I made that observation to them. And they said are you going to come, I said no, I’m not.

Ennyjude:
Who is he that he shouldn't have failed please 🌚

Albinoflash:
I just tire for some particular tribe,always thinking dey know what they are saying but yet spewing trash all the time

Nwaokunkpara:
Fear people from the wasted region

madridguy:
Atiku as a Vice president sold almost every Nigeria assets to himself through his proxies, now imagine him as a president

misransome:
The nationnewspapers?

lexy2014:
What are those Nigerian assets atiku sold to himself?

emkz:
I don't think it is fair to say Atiku would have failed as president. He is not the president, so the assumption is meaningless.

It was due to selfishness on the part of everyone in PDP that Atiku emerged as candidate. In fairness, the ticket wasn't handed to him; he fought for it like a man. So that is fair. Southern governors met in Asaba and agreed that the south must produce the next president. What then happened? Selfish interests took over, the PDP governors could not implement their own accord, and Atiku went into the competition.

Atiku won.

Had Atiku been able to consolidate his victory by uniting the PDP and bringing back the likes of Kwankwaso, Obi, and G5, he'd have won the 2023 elections. The divisions within the PDP into main PDP, Kwankwaso's NNPPC, Obi's LP and Wike's aso-ebi boys split PDP votes. That split handed victory to President Tinubu. Atiku might have worked to prove himself and immortalize himself as a good president, or he could have ruined his opportunity like a former president did. No one knows for sure.

What pained me about Atiku's case even though I do not support him, is the people that surrounded him. They failed to advise him properly. In this game of politics, bigmanism has its limits; you must stoop and negotiate with those who hold the aces to swing things. You'd make concessions to them. For example, what value did Okowa bring to the ticket? Even after the election, I can't remember Okowa attending the presidential elections petitions tribunal sittings frequently. I also can't remember if he granted interviews as much as Datti Baba-Ahmed did. Okowa was honourable, but aloof, as if he felt Atiku was on his own. If it was Wike that was chosen, you can imagine the onslaught. Now, see the risk Tinubu took, did it pay off for the victory?

Anyway, Atiku is a resilient man, he just doesn't have good friends and good advisers.

Flame333:
Baba go rest..

Yoruba will always be tricky and cunning