TheCable

Bode George, the former deputy national chairman (south) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says he is open to working with President Bola Tinubu if he consults him.

According to a report by Leadership, the PDP chieftain said this at his Ikoyi office in Lagos while fielding questions from journalists.

George has been antagonistic towards Tinubu, long before the latter’s bid for the presidency.

On more than five occasions, he had said he would go on exile if Tinubu emerges president of Nigeria.

Only recently, George said he will never congratulate Tinubu for his presidential election victory, noting that he disagrees with Tinubu’s “methodologies of governance”.

But speaking in an interview, George said there is nothing personal behind his opposition to Tinubu’s presidency, saying he’s ready to work with him for the interest of the nation.

“If he comes and says look, what do you feel about this, what do you feel about that, let’s work together in the interest of this country, why would I refuse? This nation also trained me,” he said.

“The military trained me. There is no part of the world that I have not been to, training and doing exercises. This country trained us. So, we must be able to put something back to the system that would also positively impact on the younger ones, to put a smile on their faces.’’

On the protracted crisis in PDP, his political party, George said the disagreements on the principle of zoning during the campaign for the presidency “landed the party in a deck”.

“They divided Nigeria into six geo-political zones and sought out six top positions in Nigeria, to which each zone will go home with one position or the other.

“After eight years, all the positions in the north will come to the south so that the issue of the majority perpetually getting the goodies and the minority just being onlookers will be resolved.

“I have not seen any better system. Remember when APC first came, they said ‘we don’t believe in zoning, what nonsense, we are not going to do zoning,” he said.

“What did they do at the end? Where was Buhari from, where was Osinbajo from? Where was the speaker from? Where was the senate president from?

“That was the major problem the PDP discountenanced and landed us in the deck because the national chairman emerged from the same north where the presidential candidate of the party also came from.

“When we tried to point out to them that the south-west had been left behind and not included in their calculation, they said we should come back after the elections. Then we said okay, we would also see after the elections. Now, we have seen the consequence.’’