Former Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and an ex-National Vice-Chairman (South-West) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, speaks of the leadership style of the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, and other brewing controversies in the party ahead of the 2023 general elections, in this interview with Ben Ogbemudia

The crack in the Lagos State PDP seems to still be there, as a leader of the party, what is being done to address it?

First of all, Lagos is the largest electoral state in this country. It has the highest number of voters because Lagos is the most populated state in Nigeria. They just added about 5,000 polling units and you know what that means. It is followed by Kano, so, no political party in their right mind will play with Lagos. Nobody! If you are serious or loyal to your political party, you can’t toy with Lagos which is the greatest asset this nation has. However, the charade they did in the congress, if PDP is not careful because of the poor management, will lose everything in the forthcoming election. We have a state like Lagos and Kano in an election year and you are toying with the management of the party in that place? Who will represent your party to canvass for your party before the electorate? Having said that, there was a congress, the current political leader that is the only governor we have in the South West, Seyi Makinde came there because, from the period of (Uche) Secondus, they started messing up with Lagos. The governor of Oyo State in his wisdom came to Lagos, preached like a preacher, went around, got all the elders, and as a young man, he did what is humanly possible to bring about some semblance of sanity so that the party can cruise to victory. There is a saying in my part of the world that no matter who you are to me, you cannot know my house more than me, it is not possible. How can I sit in Abuja and know Lagos more than those of us born there, will I tell him that I know Benue more than him? That is why we have representatives in the working community who should be his advisers. Ayu has messed up big time and I am sounding this alarm. I have another interview with another national newspaper because we spoke to him; we have exhausted all the avenues in the party. We told him the decision you are taking is not going to help the party, it is not a private concern, and he is just first among equals. I was there at the National level for 10 years, I was one of the first to be elected the vice-chairman of the South West in the December 1999 convention in Abuja. No generation can finish the job, it is not a 100 metres race, it is a building block, one comes and does his bit then another comes and do another bit, so we keep building it, it never finishes. But for him to come and refuse to listen, does he have a private interest or he’s thinking he is directing himself to some aspirant? That is the quickest way to destroy the party because as an umpire if you want justice, equity, and fairness, you must be like that Lady of Justice who is blindfolded and has a scale and a sword, she is blind to anybody that comes before her because she must judge and adjudicate on justice, fairness, and equity. So, what Ayu has done to Lagos now is to destroy the party, we had a congress, and this chap, the governor of Bayelsa was the one who led the team. Let him come out and tell us whether there was proper congress. You know we will start from ward congress to the local government congress and then the state. The ward congresses were managed by Deji Doherty whom the court had already declared illegal as chairman and all these messes started from the party. We advised them, that the dictates of the ground norm of our constitution have not changed, we told them not to do this or that but they had already gone through the process that was when Secondus was there. They imposed people and we went to court and what they did was illegal the court agreed with us and declared that what they did was illegal. They continued to deal with Deji Doherty and they said it will be. We said let us see how we can manage the crisis because a political crisis will always be there and your ability to manage it will always be a measure of your civility and your commitment and loyalty to that political party. It is not a private company, we met and decided to do a consensus. Consensus means all of you must agree right? To avoid delegates coming from the ward because it is seriously contentious and it has a legal implication, so let us avoid the pitfalls but whatever happens now with that judgment, let it come to absolute normalcy. If it doesn’t happen today, after the elections, we can lose it, take you to court and throw everything out. He thinks Ayu will not know this or is he so blinded that he can’t reason. A leader must listen, a leader must work with others and that is why representatives from other areas should be able to tell you because you are not physically there. They are representing their people but he refused to listen. This man came and said he agrees with what Seyi said, he even invited me, and sometimes when I look at these young people, I wonder what is going on. When we started the party, where was he? I will be 78 this year, I was a governor when I was 42 and I have been in the party for 24 years and I told them that next year, I would have spent 25 years in politics and I am going home.

So, are you saying you will retire next year?

Partisan politics will be out, but I will remain committed to this country. I will be discussing politics as an elder statesman. I said I did not see you when you came Mr Governor. I was a governor in 1998 do you know how many years that is? I graduated from the University of Lagos 52 years ago, I spent 25 years in the Navy and I told my family that after 25 years in this energy-sapping industry that is 50 years of my life committed to Nigeria, I’ve played my part. Who is the leader there? Are any of my children contesting or am I contesting? If you go to any village, the first place you go will be a palace? Isn’t it an African culture, he said I should meet him in a hotel. Because of the love I have for this party otherwise, he could do whatever he wants to do I went there and he was lying through his teeth. Governor Diri is a bloody congenital liar, he is not a gentleman. What Makinde did was that he put all the top positions and divided them so there can be peace among the elders and I followed up with that because he is the political leader for now. We are elders and I did not disrespect him and I agreed with whatever he was doing so far it brings peace. We agreed but this man wanted to put his nephew in the position they gave him and I disagreed. I told him he should look for another person, it wasn’t even zoned to his place. Ayu, don’t destroy this party, call a meeting and once you have seen the report, make sure you follow it so that justice can be done. We are in an election year, we have entered the channel to 2023 with all these unusual things and all the zones coming to the convention with their presidential aspirants, is that not a time bomb? Suddenly, he said we should go and inaugurate those people. I give you two examples of the nuisance he has created, one is the Deputy National Secretary who is a member of the National Working Committee representing Lagos from the Badagry local government area. From Badagry LGA alone, we have two members of the National Executive Committee what is the size of Badagry? So what about the other LGAs? He has discountenanced the sensibilities and the gifts given by the founding fathers of zoning and you know what that gift is? In 1960, when we started politics, all the political parties were tribal. PRP (Peoples Redemption Party) was North, Action Group (AG) was South-West, NCNC (National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons) was South-East. The majority had their way while the minorities were onlookers. Now, they headed back and said they should be inaugurated. First of all, in his wisdom, does it make any political sense that the so-called chairman elected by him through a process would have come from where we resolved through consensus that the Deputy National Chairman should come from Badagry, both the National Secretary and the State Chairman would come from Badagry and you want to win the state. Does it make any sense that you are a scholar and doctor of letters? If he had been well educated about Lagos, he would see that he has created total nonsense.

Police refute rumour of bandits invading Jos

Will the mess created not lead to PDP losing Lagos again?

Is it losing Lagos? It will be right across the length and breadth of this country. We warned them, that we are already in court and if the court decides to smash the mess he has created, what effect would that have on us as a party. It will be all over the country. Right now in the South West, his style is destroying the Yoruba people. This man is destroying my people, why he is doing that, I don’t know. If I don’t speak out, generations to come will exhume my body that is why I am speaking out. In Ondo, How could we have lost those two federal constituencies? Recently, we had an election in Akure, our stronghold, why did we lose it? Look at Ekiti, with (Ayo) Fayose is grand-styling all over the place. I was the leader there, 137 local governments in the South West, the minimum time I went there was five, going to settle a crisis, managing something. What does he think he is doing there, the big ‘oga’? What is he sitting down there to do if he can’t resolve the crisis? You want us to go to war divided, I am worried because when we got the mandate in December 1999, we managed the South-West. We went out settling crisis, but right now Ondo, Ekiti, and Osun are in crisis and he has now brought more to Lagos.

Are you insinuating that the crisis in the party is mainly in the South-West?

What does he want from the Yoruba people? I am an irredentist Yoruba man but I have respect for other tribes, my best friend is also a Northerner but what is he doing? If he is sleeping or he has lost it or the pressure is too much, wake him up! We have a room, let them call the people. Now, we have gone to court for adjudication. It is not too late for him to wake up from that slumber, wake up and call the people. There are elders in Yoruba land, we know ourselves, and we know the culture.

Are you saying Ayu lacks the managerial capacity to oversee the affairs of the party?

He is showing it now, let him wake up! He is my friend and he lives very close to me. I am saying this because I have exhausted all the internal measures to appeal to him. I wrote a personal letter to him and he told me he has read it. If he has read all that, does he think I have a personal gain at my age, what am I looking for? I told you I was governor at the age of 42, I will be 78 by November, and so, what am I looking for? Let us do it now so that we can leave a positive legacy for the younger generation coming.

You said almost all zones have presidential aspirants, would you say the PDP is seating on a keg of gun powder?

Of course, that is what I said. It is true, we have the money. When we met at that time, we calmed our nerves because these are elders, these are civilized people, people I have seen at the highest level doing the best of commitment and loyalty to the party. That was why when people were firing here and there, calm down. Those who said there is no zoning in the PDP then people came with the expediency of time. We should have given this order six months ago so that people wouldn’t have been wasting or spending money and wasting their time and energy. We are members of the same family; I know how angry some of our people are. We are going to go home and tell them to please calm down. The major thing is that zoning remains sacrosanct in our constitution. That is what we agreed, you know in the family meeting when we considered how people have been spending money and wasting time for purposes of oneness and unity, let us, for now, allow him because or either is still a game, we are heading out to the larger field and we will look around whether everyone will remain in their trenches. That is where leadership comes from, we need a man who will rise above pettiness and idiocy selflessly to appeal to the people. If you say you want the best to run, are you telling me there are no good people in all the zones of this country, are you trying to undermine some other zones that cannot produce top-level people?

Electoral Act: Malami, Amaechi, other Buhari appointees set to resign

Do you think Iyorchia Ayu is playing a game?

I don’t know for him. I am very disappointed in his approach and attitude. I have a lot of regard for him. First of all, why did he disallow our members from representing us in the working committee, the four of them to contribute, he said he does not want to listen. It is now a private enterprise, you don’t bring such an attitude to the table, and you have to listen to them because these people are representing a whole zone and the most populated zone too. How do we face our people at home, how do I go back and explain to them? A leader has to listen even down to the local man in the village.

If the PDP has its way or if the North has its way and the presidential ticket is given to the North, what would that mean to you?

Let them come and see, we are going home now to explain ourselves. They will ask what you are talking about, and what you are saying. We need the calmness of mind, of our religious leaders, and our community leaders to approach them to beg. If it comes from somewhere else, the party will still have to decide whether they accept the report. We told you that the report still came out there looking at everybody and saying that the argument makes a little sense but first there is zoning in the constitution, don’t say you have thrown it away. That is the political spinal cord of our party and if the spinal cord is damaged, you are dead. We need to convince our people at home to say let us go to the field but it is not over, not with this kind of attitude. We have two major elections coming up in South West in June and July, with this crisis. Right now, the party has a candidate, the law court has its candidate and we are going to election.

So you don’t see PDP winning?

Let him answer, if it is his wisdom or he has some other mystical vision, I don’t know. When you have your house divided, how can you win? They messed Ekiti up now Senator Olujimi is angry, Oni has been in SDP and the people are watching. If he is neutral, he will listen and look at it, which is the essence of top-level management in a political situation.

2023: Ohanaeze, eminent Igbo leaders meet in Owerri on S’ East presidency

What is your message to the PDP National Working Committee?

I am appealing to those people there not too bugged because they are representing their various zones and they should remind him that he is not an autocrat and PDP is not a private enterprise and as he has his mind which must be neutral so the people must be allowed to contribute during discussions, especially on issues that affect their zones. If he does not listen, it won’t be long when you see in an election year, I keep wondering what is going on here? There is no private enterprise in politics. Even if you are a Chairman, first among equals, it is only when you have equal votes, that there is no executive power that gives you the right to do whatever you like. I am so heart-wrenched in this situation. What is all this? Here is a man that has been in politics for a while, maybe he hasn’t managed any political party before. Being a minister is different from managing people because the people you are managing in politics, their behaviour starts from zero to infinity, you should expect anything so you must be calm. He has messed up the state and we are going to fight it. I hope I have the health to come for a meeting, I will say what I have told you now. There is still a way we can talk it out, otherwise, we are giving power back to the people who have no vision.

Why did you say power will be given to those that have no vision?

The major job of the government is the security of lives and property but look at all of us, where are we but I say with absolute candour that there is one thing they (the APC-led government) have achieved and that is the amended Electoral Act and I thank him (President Muhammadu Buhari) for that, but the fact is that no man is happy whether a rich or poor man. No man is safe even in an army barracks. We are going to start the campaign but who is going to campaign?