Chief Bode George, the National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has said that he will not congratulate the President-Elect of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as he says the electoral process is not over yet.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, George said that he had been visited by top officials of the All-Progressive’s Congress, whom re received with respect, to speak on political matters, one of which was for him (George), to congratulate Tinubu on his victory in the 2023 presidential poll. However, he refused to do that, saying that he was a principled man, and he will not jump ship to congratulate a candidate who was in a court case with his party, the PDP, who still had a chance to win the election.
The chief said, “Let’s wait until the outcome of the supreme court. For now, I don’t agree with going to congratulate him, I will never, Bode George will never do that, because that will be a sign of being a traitor.” He also said that congratulating Tinubu before the end of the electoral cases in court will be akin to him breaking the electoral process. He emphasized that he had no personal issues with the president-elect, but he disagreed with his methodologies of governance.
Saying this, he urged the president to put the inauguration, set to hold on the 29th of May, on hold. He said that the electoral process should be over before any inauguration takes place so as to let the citizens of the country know who the rightful winner of the election is. He said, “Please, don’t rush into any inauguration, let it be a carnival. Right now, the whole atmosphere is like a graveyard silence, there is no jubilation anywhere.”
When he was reminded of his promise to leave Nigeria if Tinubu won the presidential election, he said, “The elections are not over,” saying that according to him, the process of the election was not completed. He said, “My party and some other political parties are still in court, so it is not over. When it is over, we will weigh the pluses, the minuses, and come to a conclusion.” He then pointed out that he would not be leaving the country simply because Tinubu is the president when he said, “I’m not running away because he’s president, I want to go to anywhere where I will have a peace of mind till God calls my flight.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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