Chief Olabode George, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has declined to serve on the newly inaugurated Disciplinary Committee, stating that such committees are not what the party needs right now to reconcile its members.
It could be recalled that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP, led by acting National Chairman Umar Damagum, inaugurated both reconciliation and disciplinary committees on Tuesday as part of efforts to address the ongoing crisis within the party.
However, during an appearance on Arise TV’s Morning Show on Friday, George announced that he could not serve under the chairmanship of Chief Tom Ikimi.
He claimed that the selection of Atiku Abubakar as the party’s Presidential Candidate in 2023 was a major factor in the current crisis, urging party leaders to resolve the longstanding issues before focusing on committee formations.
George noted that the PDP has become polarized into three factions and pointed out that both the chairman and secretary of the Disciplinary Committee belong to one of those camps. He has already communicated his stance to the acting Chairman and the National Organizing Secretary, Umar Bature.
He stated, “I can’t serve under him (Ikimi) because I question when he joined the party. We are aware of the various factions dividing us, and the party should address these divisions first.”
“I know Tom well; he’s been in this party since I have. The founding fathers entrusted the party to us. The culture and principles of the party are with us. You cannot expect me to serve under someone with whom I have concerns regarding hierarchy,” he continued.
“I have expressed this clearly to them. I will not serve under Ikimi. I’m being frank. What depth of knowledge does he truly have concerning our party? You can’t operate this way. It’s a valid observation I’ve shared with the Chairman. Just forming a committee won’t bring about solutions.”
Elaborating on his reasons for rejecting the committee membership, he added, “The chairman of that committee belongs to one faction, and so does the secretary; am I just supposed to sit there like some indecisive creature? We need to fundamentally review what went wrong in the last elections, develop solutions, and reunite everyone, because a divided house will always remain a defeated house.”
