Ah! No! I was misquoted. ‘I will never work with Tinubu, will only pray for Nigeria,’ he says
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Bode George, former Deputy National Chairman (South West) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has dismissed reports claiming he said he would work with Bola Tinubu should the new President invite him to the Villa to share in the spoils of election victory.
George clarified the media outlet that reported that slant was not present at the press conference in Lagos at the weekend where he spoke about what he would do if Tinubu calls him for consultation.
“When they asked me [at the press conference], ‘What will you do if Tinubu invites you?’ I said precisely that if he [Tinubu] calls me I will pray for Nigeria,” George explained on Arise TV on Monday, per Vanguard reporting.
“Listen, I’m not a flip-flopper by any profession. I retired as a General. What will he be calling me for? We don’t belong to the same party.
“If he says hello chief, Good morning, and I will say Good morning Mr. President, that is if all court cases are over. We [the PDP] are still in court.
“Even when Papa Olusi came, trying to convince me to go and pay a congratulatory visit to him [Tinubu], I said, No I can’t do that.
“What would they be doing in their calculation? I’ve told them I’ve no personal qualms with this gentleman. The only differences we have are purely administrative.”
George was widely reported to have said he was open to working with Tinubu if he consults him, claiming he said so at the press conference in his Ikoyi office in Lagos while fielding questions from journalists.
George has been critical of Tinubu, long before his presidential bid, to the extent that he said he would go on exile if Tinubu emerged President.
He recently vowed never congratulate Tinubu for his presidential election victory because he disagrees with Tinubu’s “methodologies of governance.”
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George will ‘never work with Tibubu’, will ‘only pray for Nigeria’
ThisDay adds that George denied the planted story of him embracing Tinubu by saying: “Let some of these [media] people put on their thinking caps and stop spreading unnecessary rumours. I am not a green chicken, I can fight when it is necessary.
“I did not say that, and I will never say it. I am not looking for any job, and I have reached the end of my own public career,” having given about 40 years of his life to politics, and has finished his course in politics.
George also denied rating the performance of the military at 5 per cent.
“I said openly, confidently, and I am repeating it today, that it was Buhari’s administration that I was referring to. How can I rate my own professional boys 5 per cent?
“I told them pointedly that as far as I am concerned, the administration of General Buhari and the APC …. I told them that if I had to rate their administration, I would give them 5 per cent, that they failed woefully.
“I am not afraid to say it, because you can all see the effect of the state of this nation, [which is] doing very poorly due to the Buhari administration.”
He said he understood why Tinubu removed fuel subsidy immediately instead of waiting till July, as there is a “monumental hole” in the funds of the government and the removal of subsidy will help to fill the hole.
But “he should have sat down, done a thoroughbred analysis, the impact assessment and what they will do, not slam dunk it on everybody. This was a calamity that was far more than expected.”