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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has said his plan to leave the country after the declaration of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as the president-elect is still on course.
George had in the build up to the presidential election declared that if the former Lagos State governor emerge victorious at the poll, he would leave the country.
In an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, George confirmed that the plan is still on course.
“If I decide on what to do, I wish you well. I’m not looking for a job, I have everything I want and how much can I eat? I also have my children and they are no longer kids. They are all mature so what am I looking for? My wife is there, she will take good care of me. I will stay in Nigeria depending on the outcome of this because I know there might be a hell of a problem.
“You know I am a military lord so I can go anywhere in any part of the world and I will be looking at you, people. I have even decided that having put 25 years each in the military and politics, which is 50 years of my life in the public domain, I need rest so whatever I see at the end of this thing. I’m retiring from partisan politics and will be enjoying the rest of my life,” he said.
George, who described the conduct of the presidential election as shambolic, shameless and full of inadequacies, said he was heartbroken because he thought Nigeria would be lifted to the level of a civilised world.
His words: “I thought we were going to lift Nigeria to the level of a civilised world, that from every polling station, the results would be transmitted electronically into the server and it was done during Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections. We were all clapping, happy, and ready to elevate this nation from the dull room of filth to the level of a civilised world. And as a professor, I am so disappointed, because if the National Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, knew that there were hitches in the system, the best he could have done morally was to say ‘stop’ to all these operations. He continued with the shenanigans, rubbish and nonsense and started collating, and went back to the old system where they were manipulating the results.”
George added that he saw the loss of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, coming, saying a divided house will be a defeated house.
“I kept shouting and reminding these people that a divided house will be a defeated house. We have created the avenue for these things but that will be a port-mortem analysis within the party. As an elder in the party and a member of the Board of Trustees, we saw it coming. We discussed it because of the failings of the managers of the party. I told them that the South-West had been completely disenfranchised. Look at the way those children came out. The kids between the ages of 18 and 35 came out in millions believing this is the time. They want to change the direction of Nigeria but what did we give them?” he said.