By Kehinde Olatunji
• ‘Yoruba are sidelined in PDP’
Former Deputy National Vice Chairman (South-West) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, yesterday, stated that both the presidential candidates of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi; All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar belong to the old order.
George who spoke in Lagos, therefore, urged Nigerians to shun political parties in deciding their choice of candidates in the presidential election, but rather look at those that could stand the test of trustworthiness and candidates that would manage the resources of the country well.
urged Nigerians to shun political parties in deciding their choice of candidates in the presidential election, but rather look at those that could stand the test of trustworthiness and candidates that would manage the resources of the country well.
“This election has nothing to do with political parties. Has Obi not been with my party (PDP) before?” he asked.
George added that until the internal rancour in the PDP are resolved, he wouldn’t campaign or support Atiku, saying that the Yoruba are not treated fairly in the party.
“There’s nobody from the southwest in the real decision making in the party, and this ought not to be,” he said.
George, who also lamented the hardship Nigerians are subjected to due to the new naira and fuel scarcity, berated the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
He said the decision by Emefiele to redesign the Naira has only pushed the country further into dire straits, saying the national economy has sunk deeper into the abyss, while the people are being made to become refugees in their own country with hunger ravaging every home.
The policy on the currency should not have been contemplated in the way it was implemented, saying Nigerians cannot be forced to move away from a cash-based economy to a complete cashless regime overnight like the CBN wants.
He said the current hitch in the supply of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) across the country is also scandalous, adding that as Africa’s largest crude oil producer, many months of fuel scarcity, especially during the Christmas and New Year festivities, reflect the dysfunction in Nigeria’s public administration and the economy.
George described as comedy the internal exchange rate racket going on in all the states, where for Nigerians to get Naira cash across the counter and from Point Of Sale (POS) operators, there is an ‘exchange rate’ (charges) depending on the financial smartness of the operators.
He said it was disheartening that Nigerians now pay between 10 per cent and 25 per cent for them to get their hard-earned Naira cash, saying,
“Nigeria must be the only country in the world where you pay ‘officially’ a percentage in local currency for you to get your money in banks.”
The party chieftain added that in a civilised society, the APC shouldn’t have the temerity to campaign for any political office, the party plunged the country into unprecedented hardship.
“I see it as absolute lunacy for anybody to campaign for the APC or to contest on the platform of APC, due to the state of formlessness the ruling party has thrown Nigeria into. It is grieving to see Nigeria slowly sliding into a state of perpetual hopelessness.
“In all honesty, I cannot decipher the logic of quietness against the cliff edge, which the APC government has plunged the Nigerian state into, where there seems to be no opposing views, calling the ruling government to stop and rethink.
Talking about concerns over silence by other political parties who should be worried about the state of things, George said, “our party, the PDP, and others, such as the Labour Party, Social Democratic Party (SDP,) New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), seem to have concurred to the present shenanigans.
“I wonder, what hate, what evil, what madness will propel anyone of sane mind to plunge Nigeria into the present state of hopelessness, annihilation and abject suffering of the citizenry.
“At the same time, I see it as absolute lunacy for anybody to campaign for APC or to contest on the platform of APC, due to the state of formlessness the ruling party has thrown Nigeria into.
“It puzzles rationality. It benumbs our senses as Nigerians wake up every day to daily agonies of perennial fuel scarcity, tossed at us by the NNPC and the agony of non-availability of cash, occasioned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through its Naira rebranding.
“Where is the Presidential candidate of our party, the PDP, Atiku Abubakar? Where is Iyorchia Ayu, the National Chairman. How come the voice of the DG, Campaign Council of the PDP is drowned in perpetual silence against the atrocities of the APC government with the presidential election just a few days away?
“Why have they allowed their voices to be drowned in conspiratorial silence? Where are the opposition political parties? What does the graveyard silence portend for Nigerians? It seems to mean that Nigerians’ right to good has been consigned to the dustbin by the political class.
“Governments are elected to guarantee the pursuit of happiness, to ensure the protection of personal liberties, to create an atmosphere where all citizens can carry out their economic livelihoods without being subjected to oppression or being savaged by the lawlessness of incendiary actors.”
Source: The Guardian
