David Mark root cause of PDP crisis – Bode George
Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, has accused former Senate President David Mark, who is now Interim National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, of contributing to the PDP’s present internal conflict.
George accused Mark of orchestrating the contentious national convention, which he claimed lay the groundwork for the party’s dilemma.
At a meeting in Abuja last week, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Mark, former governors of Jigawa and Sokoto states, Sule Lamido and Aminu Tambuwal, among others, asked PDP members to join the ADC to save the country in the 2019 general election.
“The meeting invites all good-hearted PDP members and other patriotic Nigerians to join the coalition. All coalition partners must agree on the subjects of national unity, democracy, national security, the national economy, and the political commitment to combat corruption in our institutions.
“The PDP, which is organic with the discipline, capacity, and history to lead and preserve Nigeria, has become a shell of its former self. The heatwave unleashed by the APC-Federal Government through threats, extortion, and patronage has caused elected officials to quit the PDP,” Mark stated in a statement issued at the meeting’s conclusion.
In response to Mark’s call, George, a former Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, chastised the former Senate President for abandoning the party in times of distress, emphasising that the PDP’s crisis was traceable to the retired army general.
He remarked, “I am profoundly humiliated of David Mark’s statement inviting PDP members to join the ADC. It is absolutely disgraceful. I’m heartbroken. What bothers me is that these people have chosen to abandon their father’s home, where they were born. You left a house that produced and nurtured you just because it was experiencing one problem or another?
“This is not about Mark’s arrogance; he is terrible and unfit. We’re talking about a retired Army General who behaves like a rolling stone that gathers no moss. I was present when our party hierarchy decided he would be our nominee for the office of Senate President. He was the Chairman of the convention that caused the current problem in the PDP, as they twisted the process provided by the founding fathers.
The PDP chieftain labelled Atiku, Mark, and others as ungrateful and a disappointment to the party’s founding fathers.
He stated, “These folks are always dancing on the graves of those babas who dedicated their lives and all for the celebration. That statement, stating that the PDP is now a shell of its former self, is unacceptable to people like me.
Mark has no right to condemn the celebration. We can ignore anything a civilian says, but we (military personnel) have been schooled to respect protocols and traditions. What will these individuals tell their children? Who caused the darkness he’s talking about? Who presided over the conference that resulted in such a drastic transformation?
However, Ibrahim Tsauri, a former National Secretary of the PDP, has backed the demand for PDP members to join the ADC-led coalition against President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Tsauri, who served on the Uche Secondus-led national executive, said the PDP leaders who now form the spirit of the ADC must have had good cause to desert the once powerful political party.
He stated, “Staying in or joining a political party is entirely partisan; it is not divine. Nobody is forced to remain in or join a political group, party, or association. The truth is that individuals who are encouraging others to join the ADC represent the PDP. If they want others to join them in forming another political party, I believe they have good reasons.
“The way the PDP train is moving today is concerning, and we believe that foreign involvement is aimed at making the party a part of history. However, some who are optimistic believe that the party with ten governors cannot be politically replaced by a party with a local government councillor.
“Leaders calling on others to join ADC have demonstrated political honesty, experience, respect, commitment, name, and worth. No politician in Nigeria will challenge the political ideals and capabilities of Atiku Abubakar, Sule Lamido, David Mark, Aminu Tambuwal, Babangida Aliyu, and a slew of others who are urging others to join the ADC.”
He also stated that joining the ADC would not mean the end of the PDP.
“The question of whether the PDP will let its members to depart does not arise because, when we talk about PDP, these people have a share of ownership. They are urging PDP followers to join the ADC as a political platform for salvaging and saving Nigeria from its current state, in which no system is working. None of them ever declared they wanted the PDP to die.
“Do not forget that there are those in the PDP who have openly opposed the party, and the party’s leadership has done nothing to stop them.
“I see nothing wrong in calling those who have lost confidence in the PDP to join whichever political party they feel may save Nigeria from the grasp of the clueless APC government,” according to him.
He mentioned that the Atiku-led government could return to the PDP in the future.
“If the PDP stages a successful convention, it may urge Atiku, Mark, and others to reconsider and return to the house they created. I believe their coming together under the PDP will give the APC more sleepless nights than under the ADC,” he said.
Capt Umar Bature (retd), a member of the PDP National Working Committee, stated that there was nothing wrong with Atiku’s and other PDP leaders’ decision to join the ADC.
Bature, the PDP’s National Organising Secretary, stated, “It is a free world.”
He did, however, say the PDP was unified.