The Peoples Democratic Party has launched a stunning defence of one of its leaders in the South West, Chief Olabode George.
George, a one-time deputy national chairman of the party, served time in jail over some of his dealings when he headed the board of the nation’s ports authority.
For some time, George has been the subject of harsh criticisms from people who expected that an ex-convict would lie low after his release but were stunned to see that George continued to wield enormous influence in the PDP. Only last week, he was made a member of the committee set up by the Peoples Democratic Party to work on reorganising its Board of Trustees (BoT).
Of all the criticisms against George, the one which has most upset the PDP is the one from its major rival, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). So today, the South-West chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP berated the “Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and its agents” for the media attacks on George, which they described as “incessant.”
PDP’s argument is that its rival does not have the moral right to criticise George, after all, “the same way Bode George was convicted was also the way the ACN National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande was jailed for fraud by the General Mohammadu Buhari Military Regime in 1984. How then, can pot continue to call kettle black?”
The defence came after the ACN criticised the membership of Bode George in the PDP’s BoT.
Hon. Kayode Babade, the zonal publicity secretary of the PDP, who issued the statement, said that the ACN should cease from turning Chief Bode George’s conviction into “an anthem that they sing everyday,” especially as its own national chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, was jailed for fraud in 1984 and the leaders of its caucus in the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajamiala, was also convicted for professional misconduct by the Supreme Court of Georgia, USA.
“While we do not want to bother ourselves with the propriety or otherwise of Chief Bode George’s conviction not stealing a dime of public fund but for flouting procedure for award of contracts, we make bold to say that the ACN as a party does not have the required moral standing to chastise Bode George or any other person for that matter because its own National Chairman was equally jailed for stealing funds belonging to the old Oyo State.
“Interestingly, Bisi Akande was only released from jail and not pardoned by the Ibrahim Babangida government, and Buhari, whose government jailed him (Akande) is now his political mentor and rallying figure for their much touted merger party,” said the PDP.
The PDP statement reasoned that a court conviction does not stop anybody from being a part of a political party or of participating in the activities of the party.
“If these characters in the ACN have any sense of shame, they ought to know that despite his conviction, Bode George had the right to belong to, and participate in the activities of a political party the same way Bisi Akande is the National Chairman of the ACN despite being an ex-convict.
“Can conviction stop somebody from belonging to a group or a trade union? And if he belongs to a group, can’t he take part in the activities of the group?
“Therefore, it is our challenge to the ACN hypocrites that they should clean their stinking house and leave Chief Bode George alone to live his life and exercise his constitutional rights.”
We now await the ACN’s sure response.
