Flippancy is born out of an empty mind and an uncontrolled vocal vacuity.
It is unfortunate that this distasteful penchant for spewing gibberish has overtaken many of our politicians, reducing them to mere court jesters; loud yet incoherent, like cacophonous timbrels without rhythm.
One such politician is Senator Abdul Ningi, whose insatiable craving for his leader’s attention has turned him into the joker of the pack. His latest remarks against Chief Bode George are laughable at best and historically ignorant at worst.
One wonders where the likes of Ningi were when Chief Bode George, whose image he now seeks to tarnish, was the Military Governor of Ondo State. Not only was Bode George a founding father of the PDP, but he also served as the party’s first National Vice Chairman for the South West.
If Ningi’s pronouncements weren’t so shabby and irritating, they could have been dismissed as a joke taken too far. However, for a supposedly experienced politician to question Bode George’s role in the transition from President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 exposes a shocking level of historical ignorance. It is particularly sad that a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would expose his intellectual shortcomings simply to advance a regional political agenda.
What Ningi and his co-travelers from the North must understand is that the region has had its turn in leadership. The PDP will not hand its presidential ticket to another northerner; certainly not to Atiku Abubakar, who, pushing 80, is politically retired already. It is time for him to step back and assume the role of a political godfather or backroom strategist. If we must face facts, the era of Turaki Adamawa is over.
Back to Ningi and Bode George – his statement is akin to an ant challenging an elephant. However, for the sake of historical accuracy and to prevent the spread of misinformation, Ningi’s claims that Chief Olabode George is a mere opportunist must be corrected.
It must be reiterated that Chief Bode George was the Director-General of the Yar’Adua/Goodluck Jonathan campaign and delivered a resounding victory for that joint candidacy. Unfortunately, he later faced trumped-up charges due to political maneuvering and vested interests.
Despite former EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu affirming that Bode George had no involvement in the NPA case, powerful forces ensured his conviction. However, history has vindicated him; the Supreme Court of Nigeria overturned the verdict, ruling it a miscarriage of justice with no legal basis. That trial should never have taken place.
Ningi’s attempt to malign a man who has served Nigeria in various capacities lacks both logic and humanity. In his desperate bid to discredit an impeccable legacy, he conveniently ignores the fact that Yar’Adua’s passing led to Jonathan’s succession as a natural constitutional process.
As for the PDP’s mode of leadership succession, as established by its founding fathers since 1998, no individual or region has the right to impose its interests against the principles of equity, justice, and fairness. The PDP holds the rotation of political positions sacred.
Atiku Abubakar has been the party’s presidential candidate twice, first in 2019, when he had a strong case but failed to fight the unfair verdict wholeheartedly, and again in 2023, when he lost due to reckless political miscalculations. His time is done. The PDP presidential ticket will only return to the North in 2031.
Ningi would do well to seek other ways of remaining relevant to his ethnic leader rather than resorting to cheap propaganda. The world knows that he has immensely benefited from the PDP and is a close associate of Atiku Abubakar. His baseless allegations only expose him as a tool in Atiku’s relentless and unrealistic ambition for 2027. However, they will fail, collectively. If Atiku wishes to contest again, he should seek another party; there is no vacancy for him, Ningi, or their collaborators in the PDP.
Bode George has never fought personal battles. His commitment has always been to uphold the party’s core principles of zoning and rotation, which are enshrined in the PDP’s constitution. As stated in Section 7, Subsection 3(c), the party’s commitment to zoning and rotation remains inviolable, no matter whose ox is gored.
For Bode George, the PDP is not anybody’s private property and cannot be hijacked for personal ambition.
Ningi’s attack on Chief Bode George is as weak and feeble as a dry leaf blown from its stem by the wind.
Dare Adeleke writes from Ibadan.
