Chief Olabode George, former vice chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has alleged the opposition exploited the internal crisis in the party to manipulate the 2023 general election.
He made this known on Wednesday in an interview with Arise TV.
According to Chief George, the party lost focus during the elections due to the various factions in the party which made it easier for the opposition to manipulate the results.
It would be recalled after the party’s primary, some aggrieved governors including the former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, his Abia State counterpart, Okezie Ikpeazu and serving Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde formed a faction within the party which created disunity.
According to Chief George, a former governor of Ondo State, the grievance of the governors in the party was due to non adherence to the party’s constitution.
He said, “The real postmortem analysis has to be done behind closed doors and not for public hearing. However, everybody now knows there’s no oneness in our party. It was a divided party, and so the opposition was able to manipulate it.
“It’s not a matter of discipline or indiscipline; it is well stated in the constitution of the party; we deviated from it, and we were put straight down; they gave us an uppercut.”
Expressing disappointment in the presidential election, the former chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the leadership of Professor Yakubu Mahmoud failed Nigerians by not keeping to his word to transmit the election results electronically.
According to him, if the party would have remained in unity it would have been difficult for the opposition to “cheat on them”.
He, however, called for reconciliation within the party regardless of the decision of the Supreme Court.
“They manipulated the result of the elections, as we can see. What bothered me was that Prof. Yakubu told us that they have gotten a new system, and we are going to use an electronic system – only to be told on the day that they had a glitch and reverted to the manipulation of the past.
“So, we are in court, and we will see what is going to happen. However, imagine if the party was a solid rock; nobody would ‘cheat’ us.
“I am still hopeful as we head to the Supreme Court, but if a decision is made, we must be prepared to come down state by state to resolve the crisis created before the elections.
“We can disagree, but we must not be disagreeable,” he added.
