PDP Crisis: Bode George Warns Against Attempt To Sideline Effah-Attoe, Others

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has warned against any attempt to sideline some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) who are in support of the removal of the National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu.

NWC members who are against Ayu include the Deputy National Chairman (South), Taofeek Arapaja; the National Woman Leader, Stella Effah-Attoe and the National Vice Chairman, South-South, Dan Orbih.

Others are National Vice Chairman, South-East, Alli Odefa Olasoji Adagunobi-Oluwatukesi; National Vice Chairman, South-West and the Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo.

The NWC members had also returned millions of naira paid into their accounts to the party coffers after a report claimed that the money was a bribe to buy their support for Ayu.

In a memo released on Wednesday, the PDP Woman Leader raised an alarm that there is a deliberate plot to undermine her office in the ongoing campaigns by the party.

Speaking with The PUNCH on Wednesday, George said any attempt to undermine the offices of the aggrieved NWC members will spell doom for the opposition party.

The PDP chieftain called for unity within the party rather than division among party leaders and stakeholders ahead of the 2023 general elections.

George also claimed that some leaders are turning the party into a Northern entity, saying that the Southerners in the NWC are being sidelined and undermined.

He said: “This conception of a revisit to the amalgamation period must never be allowed. They are turning the PDP into the Northern Peoples Democratic Party. The National Woman Leader was not allowed to address the party because she is from the South. What does that portend?

“Our young man, the National Youth Leader from the North was allowed to talk. What are they driving at for God’s sake?”