Former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Olabode George on December 11, said the party cannot field a northerner in 2027 presidential election.
He said: “I don’t really understand the rhetorics in some quarters these days that a member of the party from the North is strategising or plotting to return as the presidential candidate of our party in 2027.
“A northerner cannot be the presidential candidate of our party in 2027, pure and simple. The earlier some members pushing this agenda know this truth, the better for our collective sanity.
“I have nothing against northerners. In fact, my best friend is from the north but PDP members must understand this reality before it is too late that a PDP member from the southern part of the country must be our candidate and we must all support him to defeat the APC candidate in the 2027 elections.
“Until 2031, nobody should think of contesting for the presidential ticket of our party from the North. The real elders in our party should stand up and say the truth.
“The truth may be bitter but it must be said without any emotion or else, the founding fathers of our party, some of whom have exited this world, will not forgive us.”
George, who spoke with reporters in Lagos, warned that the party may not survive till 2027, unless it returns to the vision of its founding fathers.
He said: “I am raising the alarm today that our party is at the precipice of a looming crisis, if pending critical party issues are not urgently addressed.”
“I want to sound a note of warning to some gladiators in our great party, the PDP. If care is not taken, the party may become a ‘Garbage heap of history’ in 2027.”
To avert the looming calamity, George, said there should be unity and inclusiveness, before next years governorship polls in Edo and Ondo states.
The Naval Commodore lamented that the unity of the party is threatened , wondering how it can bounce back in 2027 without resolving the problems that led to its full in 2023.
Stressing that Nigerians are waiting the PDP in the next general election, he maintained that “to think of a Northerner as our saviour in 2027 is a joke taken too far.”
He stressed: “I cried loudly before the last general election that we cannot shut out the South from our strategy and hope to win. Two Northerners emerged as our presidential candidate and national chairman. We all saw the outcome.
“I can boldly say that those who supported that idea gave the opportunity for Tinubu to become the president today and a repeat of that fiasco will lead to the end of PDP in 2027.
“I want to alert Nigerians that the primitive agenda that led to the PDP losing the February 25, 2023 presidential election is rearing its ugly head again.
I want Nigerians and PDP members to know that Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George, one of the founding fathers and a former Deputy National Chairman of our party, is not anti-party and will never do or say anything against the interest of this party but I abhor and hate injustice at any level.
“I have no iota of tribalism in my blood. I stand to fight for inclusiveness for all Nigerians in the political process of this country and especially in this party where some of us have suffered great injustice for the fight of equity and justice for all.
“As leaders of the party, we must not pander towards ethnic affiliation because PDP is the only true national party. The APC is just a mere collection of strange bed fellows.”
George noted that some governors are against the plot to return a Northerner as PDP presidential candidate in 2027.
He queried: “How can we go into the 2027 election season with this type of division and expect to win the presidential election? Unless we are united, unless we have fairness, equity and justice in our system, the party and the country are heading nowhere.
“In the build up to the 2023 presidential elections, I was shocked about the quality of response from some of our members, so divisive and arrogant.
All the party elders saying then that the National Chairman should not resign, where are they today?