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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
A former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has said the five aggrieved governors of the party, known as G5, met in Lagos on Sunday to honour the party’s loyalists in the state.
George spoke on a radio programme with veteran journalist, Jimi Disu, in Lagos, on Tuesday.
Recall that the G5 governors led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State met with members of the party in Lagos on Sunday. Other members of the G5 include Samuel Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia).
The former PDP deputy national chairman said the governors are now at the “frontlines” and they were around to honour the party’s loyalists in the Lagos.
“They have the energy to move from location A to location B. I’m closer to 80 now. So what am I going to be running around for? There is time for everything.
“That’s why they came, they honoured us. They said Baba, we will come to Lagos for the briefing of the larger group,” he said.
Since Atiku Abubakar emerged the PDP presidential candidate, the governors have been clamouring for the removal of the party’s national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, who is also a northerner.
They are also demanding that Ayu be replaced with a southerner to correct the imbalance in the leadership of the main opposition party.
Reiterating that demand, George insisted that Ayu must be replaced by someone from the South.
The former NPA chairman, who was in the national chairmanship race of the party in 2017, said that he is no longer interested in the position.
Speaking on the zoning structure of the party, he said: “If the presidency goes to the North, the vice president must come to the South. The Senate President goes to the north, the Speaker to the South, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to the North, the chairman of the party goes to the South,” he said, speaking on the zoning structure of the party.
“So, it means the odd numbers are numbers in one zone, the even numbers will be in the other zone.
“After eight years, all the positions will have to come to the South and all the other positions in the South will go to the North. So you have guaranteed the sustainability of positive inclusivity in the system.”
He said that with the situation of things, whenever Atiku is in Lagos to campaign, he would not receive him or attend the event.
George, however, added that “we haven’t closed any doors yet for reconciliation and proper visitation.”
Asked who he would vote for in the forthcoming election, the PDP stalwart said he has not made up his mind on who to vote for.
Probed further if there is any chance he might vote for the presidential candidate of the APC, he said “never.”
George is a perennial rival of Tinubu in Lagos and has condemned his presidential bid after years of raising questions on the former governor’s indigeneship of Lagos and academic background.
Asked if he would cast his vote for Peter Obi of the Labour Party, he said: “I won’t answer that but he is not closed.”