SaharaReporters had reported that George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, in March vowed to leave Nigeria if Tinubu should become the President.
The former Military Governor of Ondo State, Chief Bode George, has said that he will work with President Bola Tinubu if he consults with him.
SaharaReporters had reported that George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, in March vowed to leave Nigeria if Tinubu should become the President.
“I am happy the President has signed the new electoral bill,” he had said. “If by whatever chance he (Tinubu) gets to the villa, I won’t be part of this country. And I am not joking. I can go to Ghana and be watching with binoculars from afar. You will see what will happen.
“This is Alpha Beta in Lagos. He will create some Alpha Beta somewhere to carry your money. His wife will now be Senate President. His son will be Governor of Lagos. His daughter will be Iyaloja of Nigeria."
Five times, the former military officer vowed to leave Nigeria should Tinubu become the president.
He also recently said he would never congratulate Tinubu for his election victory, noting that he disagreed with Tinubu’s “methodologies of governance”.
However, contrary to the position, the former military while addressing journalists in his Ikoyi office in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Friday, said there is nothing personal behind his opposition to Tinubu’s presidency, adding that he was ready to work with him for the interest of the nation.
The Leadership quoted him to have said during the interview, “If he comes and says look, what do you feel about this, what do you feel about that, let’s work together in the interest of this country, why would I refuse? This nation also trained me.
“The military trained me. There is no part of the world that I have not been to, training and doing exercises. This country trained us. So, we must be able to put something back to the system that would also positively impact on the younger ones, to put a smile on their faces.’’
On the protracted crisis in the PDP, his political party, George said the disagreements on the principle of zoning during the campaign for the presidency “landed the party in a deck”.
“They divided Nigeria into six geo-political zones and sought out six top positions in Nigeria, to which each zone will go home with one position or the other.
“After eight years, all the positions in the north will come to the south so that the issue of the majority perpetually getting the goodies and the minority just being onlookers will be resolved.
“I have not seen any better system. Remember when APC first came, they said ‘we don’t believe in zoning, what nonsense, we are not going to do zoning,” he said.
“What did they do at the end? Where was Buhari from, where was Osinbajo from? Where was the speaker from? Where was the senate president from?
“That was the major problem the PDP discountenanced and landed us in the deck because the national chairman emerged from the same north where the presidential candidate of the party also came from.
“When we tried to point out to them that the southwest had been left behind and not included in their calculation, they said we should come back after the elections. Then we said okay, we would also see after the elections. Now, we have seen the consequence.”