Bode George also said it’s crucial to return to the established processes within PDP to win future elections
By Kehinde Okeowo
A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Bode George, has attributed the failure of his party in the 2023 general elections to the ineptitude of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
He made this known recently while speaking to journalists in Lagos, faulting the NWC for deviating from the established procedures designed by the PDP’s founding fathers for conducting primary elections.
He went on to say that it is important to return to these established processes within the party to win elections in the future.
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Speaking to the pressmen, Bode George said: “Having worked at the national secretariat for 10 years, the problem that resurfaces in every electoral period is very simple. It started during the period of Uche Secondus, and I wouldn’t like to undress my party publicly. It is a monumental crisis, but very simple to handle.
“The way the founding fathers designed the handling of primaries and congresses, they altered it; I won’t say more than that,”
He added: “But that is the major issue plaguing the party. You know our party is not owned by an individual, but some people play and pretend as if they are working for the party. Those are the issues that we will discuss when we get back in the inner chambers of our party and we must change them. That was the methodology used when I was there and there was no crisis.
“A typical example is the primaries in Lagos either governorship; they will send people who don’t live here and who have no business here to come and conduct primaries. How can somebody from outside know your house more than you and by the time they land rather than allowing people to vote, they will be looking for the aspirants and they become their Automated Teller Machine, (ATM).
“And once they finish, they will run back to the national organising department to affirm the person they supported. But I won’t expand more than that, and that is the major crisis which you see because, if you go to the bottom and do your primaries at the wards and local government levels and create division at that level, how can you fight the outsiders.”
He called for a reconciliation committee to address these issues and pave the way forward for the PDP. He stressed the importance of conducting a thorough review of the party’s experiences in each state during the 2023 elections.
“There should be no short approach; sweeping everything under the carpet is a foolish way to do it. We must set up a committee that will go around the country, move state by state, and make inquiries about their experiences, what happened to finances, and the political aspect. How were the primaries conducted in each state? Who did what?”