You Will Kill PDP With Impunity, Bode George Tells Secondus

Lagos – Chief Olabode George, a former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said on Sunday that Prince Uche Secondus, national chairman of the party, would kill the party faster if he didn’t put a halt to the ongoing impunity in the party.

While bemoaning the crisis in the Lagos State chapter of the party which has produced two state chairmen, Messrs Adegbola Dominic and Adedeji Doherty, George accused the national leadership of the PDP of running the party like their private companies without recourse to the laid down rules spelt out in the party’s constitution.

He described as fraudulent the decision of the Secondus-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to conduct a fresh election into the State Working Committee (SWC) despite a court order calling on the party to maintain status quo antebellum.

According to him, after Justice T.A.O. Oyekan-Abdullahi of the Lagos High Court ordered that the status quo remains in the affairs of the PDP in Lagos State, the notice was made available in the media while a copy of the judgment was also forwarded to the national secretariat of the party for their notification.

He said in flagrant disregard for court orders, the NWC who claimed Dominic was acting as chairman for 90 days still sent a delegation led by Senator Obi to conduct the election which produced Doherty as chairman.

Reacting to the claim by Captain Tunji Shelle, a former state chairman of the party, that Dominic was appointed to serve in acting capacity for 90 days, George accused him of being economical with the truth, saying Dominic was validly elected as a replacement to complete the tenure of Moshood Salvador, the former state chairman who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said: “I have refrained from speaking initially but I can no longer continue to keep quiet when some people are trying to justify illegality and gross impunity.

“What they are doing is illogical and illegal, totally out of the constitution. If they cannot follow the rule as stated in the constitution, they are going to kill the party very fast.

“Anything that is illegal, illogical and is going to bring shame to the PDP, I will never be part of it. They cannot continue to run the PDP like their private businesses. This is a national party for the people built by the efforts of our founding fathers.

“During the election of a new state chairman to replace Salvador, I abstained from voting. I didn’t support Dominic or any of the candidates. Shelle was part of the people who voted for Dominic.

“After the election, I said ‘Mr. Dominic, the party people have voted for you, I wish you the best of luck, go and learn the ropes and culture of the party. Work with your people. Why should I get myself involved? It is who the party members want that I will support.

“I have nothing personal against Doherty. I supported him during the last PDP governorship primary in Lagos. However, the man they sent to Lagos to conduct the primary, Victor Oyofo, manipulated the primary in favour of the eventual winner, yet I didn’t utter one word.

“If people don’t allow the will of the people to be respected, the party will continually be in a comatose.”

Speaking on why he shunned the inauguration of Doherty, which took place last Monday, George said he would not associate himself with any illegality as there was a pending case in court on the matter.

“To me, there is a case in court. What they did was not in accordance with the constitution of the party. Whatever the court decides is what I will comply with. Until then, I cannot be seen with any illegality,” he said.

Our correspondent also gathered that the ruling on who is the authentic chairman of the PDP has been fixed for Thursday, December 12.

The crisis rocking the Lagos PDP has taken a different dimension as two chairmen (Dominic and Doherty) are laying claims to the leadership of the party.

Doherty, a long standing member of the party, was last week sworn in as the new chairman in the state in a ceremony that was witnessed by a delegation sent by the national leadership of the party.

He was sworn into office by the party’s national vice chairman, South West, Eddy Olafeso, and Abimbola Ogunkelu, a former Minister of Cooperation and Integration.

George and some party leaders were, however, absent at the inauguration.

Speaking with our correspondent, Dominic, who is the immediate past chairman of the party in the state, said the election and inauguration of Doherty was an exercise in futility as he remained the authentic state chairman of the party.

He said he secured a restraining order from the Lagos State High Court against the conduct of the exercise but the NWC, in flagrant disregard for court order, conducted the special congress which saw the emergence of Doherty as the new chairman of the party.

He said those supporting Doherty moved against him because of his loyalty and refusal to sideline the leader of the party in the state, Chief Olabode George, who had sacrificed a lot for the party in the state.

“I remain the state chairman of the party. If you go to INEC today, they will confirm to you that I am the recognised state chairman of the party.

“The election they conducted is invalid. The court has stopped the election, so anything they conducted is a nullity.

“Whatever they like they can say, but as far as the law is concerned, I remain the state chairman of the party in Lagos State.

“The status quo antebellum is the ruling of the court which they disregarded. When we get to the court, we will soon know who the state chairman of the party is,” he said.

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