Why I will not congratulate Tinubu as President-elect, says Bode George
*Tells Buhari not to inaugurate him as President on May 29
By KEMI KASUMU
Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George, has reiterated its commitment to play role in enthroning enviable democracy in Nigeria.
By this, he said he would will not be congratulating the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declared President-elect in the February 25, 2023 presidential election in the country, until all litigation surrounding his declaration by Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), are resolved and because the electoral process is not over yet.
Chief Bode George, who spoke in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, said that he had been visited by top officials of the APC, whom he received with respect and who spoke to him on political matters.
He said the APC’s delegation, led by Papa Tajudeen Olusi, came to tell him to among three main points congratulate Tinubu on his victory in the 2023 presidential poll.
The former Military Governor of Old Ondo State, however, rejected the move to make him do so saying that, as a principled man and only representative of South West at the national caucus of his party, he will not jump ship to congratulate a candidate on whose “victory” his party, the PDP, is in court and hopeful that it still has a chance of its (PDP’s) winning the election.
George 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.”
