A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bode George, has challenged any Nigerian who accuses his party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, of corruption, to cast the first stone if they’re truly above board.
The politician said that whatever Atiku might be accused or suspected of, he has learnt his lessons and is not likely to toe the same path.
George, who spoke on Sunday during a live radio programme, Discuss With Jimi Disu,
argued that as an ageing man, Atiku must have learnt from his past, and that he is better poised to lead the nation.
He said that Atiku is currently resting overseas where he is also fine-tuning his campaign strategy.
Referring to Presidential Muhammadu Buhari as his oga while they were both in the military, George said that he held Buhari responsible for the “shambolic things” that attended the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, asking the President to “rein in his party members so that the will of the people could be done.”
George said though Buhari might be a person of integrity, “the general perception of the President as the leader of the All Progressives Congress makes him culpable for any perceived shortcomings of the party, such as the outcome of the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states.”
George argued that the outcomes of the elections were a “rip-off of the people of Osun and Ekiti states of their legitimate votes.”
“This is the perception of the international election observers,” George maintianed.
Asked if he thinks that Buhari is truly not in full control of his administration, George counselled the President to listen to the people through the footmen he should have appointed to gauge public feelings about his government.
George expressed doubts that Buhari won the 2015 presidential election fair and square, alleging that then President Goodluck Jonathan did not consult the party before he conceded defeat to Buhari.
Asked what the PDP apologised for at the peak of its desperation that it lost the 2015 elections after 16 years as the ruling party, George said the party’s national apology came after the PDP had realised its “mistakes.”
He said that the outcome of the PDP national convention was an attestation of its change of character and its readiness to correct the wrongs of the past and rule well.