Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and an aspirant to the position of the national chairman, Chief Bode George, has warned leaders of the party to put its house in order so as not to end up like the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP.
George said there was a short time, between the party’s election and the 2019 general elections, noting that the former ruling party needed a person who can weather the storm and face the battle ahead.
He said the next chairman of the party must extract the seed inside palm kernel.
He said, “It is not a joke because when you apply the harmer, you have to watch your fingers. It is a major decision, not only for our party but for the country.
“We need someone with a track record, someone who has been through the storm. We must avoid the pitfalls of the past. This is not the time for experimentation.
“Within the South-west, we have Ondo / Ekiti, one zone, Lagos/Ogun, one zone, Osun / Oyo, another zone. The current National Vice chairman of the party is from Ondo/Ekiti. It was zoned there because Lagos/Ogun, Osun/Oyo, have all served their terms in the past. So now, it is the turn of Ogun/Lagos again.
“We are fighting a party that is now a colossus. Politics is war by other means. So we must get it right if indeed we want to return to power in 2019. I want all those contesting to also let us debate before our members so we can tell them our plans and be able to convince them. That is the democracy.
“As a party, thank God we did not get a technical knockout; we only got a bloody nose. But we must learn from our past mistakes. You don’t just join an organisation and suddenly you want to head the organisation, without requisite qualification, experience, and knowledge. You don’t bring a bambino to go and manage the people. I don’t want us to end up like the ANPP.”
Meanwhile, one of the chairmanship aspirants of the PDP, Gbenga Daniel, has stated that he had no plan of stepping down for any of the contenders.
