Watch It: Rivers Crisis May End This Democracy – Bode George Warns
Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, on Friday, May 10, 2024 warned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to treat the political crisis in Rivers State with levity, stressing that it has the potency of snowballing into an end for democracy in the country.
He particularly warned against any move that has the capacity to truncate this democracy, saying; “enough is enough”, adding all the gladiators should think of the overall and collective interests of Nigerians.
The former military governor of Lagos State urged politicians particularly the main actors involved in the political crisis in Rivers State to cast their minds back to the unfortunate incident of ‘Operation Wetie’ which started in the defunct Western Region and eventually consumed the nation and ended the First Republic in 1966.
Bode George therefore urged elders and stakeholders of the PDP to as a matter of urgent national importance, intervene in the political crisis rocking Rivers State before it develop into a national conflagration.
The PDP chieftain cautioned President Tinubu not to treat with levity the threat by some lawmakers in the State House of Assembly to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara, stressing that Rivers State belongs to the PDP.
George also advised that nobody should sit on the fence and pretend that things were fine in Rivers state, and specifically advised all the actors in this crisis to avoid actions likely to cause breach of peace and breakdown of law and order in the country.
Relying on Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution which states that: “a member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if … (g) being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political Party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected,”
Chief George stressed that all the PDP lawmakers who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), automatically lost their seats thus, not in a position to threaten Governor Fubara.
In the word of George; “So, their plot to commence impeachment proceedings against Governor Fubara is already in vain. Rivers people belong to PDP. Those threatening to impeach the governor are being remote-controlled by some forces.
“This must stop because if Rivers is set on fire today, that may end this democracy.
“Members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of our party should be the elders in the room, act swiftly and nip this crisis in the bud before it consumes everybody.
“All the gladiators should also think of the collective interests of Nigerians. Whether we are members of PDP, APC or other parties, we should stop issuing provocative statements to increase the tension in Rivers,” he said.
