Don’t be afraid of Tinubu, supporters assure Bode George, others of amnesty

The Nigeria Rebirth Platform (NRP) says People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Olabode George and other critics of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu have no reason to lose sleep over his potential emergence as president in 2023.

The pro-Tinubu group urged George, in particular, not to nurse any fear about his ugly past, noting that the former Lagos State Governor will grant “amnesty to all repentant criminals who stole from our country once they return their loot”.

The Nigeria Rebirth Platform made this known at a press conference on Friday in Abuja.

Recall that George, a former PDP national vice-chairman, had serially attacked Tinubu, dating back to the latter’s time as governor.

More recently, the 76-year-old on numerous occasions threatened to leave the country should his long-time political nemesis win the next presidential election.

But speaking on behalf of the Nigeria Rebirth Platform, its national president, Comrade Victor Onah, described George as a victim of extreme paranoia driven by his troubled past.

According to Onah, the former Ondo State Governor is “afraid that he could be tried for crimes that could be linked to him when he was in office and that this time he would go to jail for good and for life”.

Assuring George of his safety, however, the group said the PDP chieftain, who they claim is struggling with “Pathological Acquisitiveness Syndrome”, must first free himself from “Tinubu-phobia”.

In the meantime, the group advised Bode George to find something to distract him from his present compulsive obsession with Tinubu.

Read full statement below:

Gentlemen of the press, a People Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Olabode George has, for the fifth time, threatened to leave Nigeria should a former Lagos State governor and national leader of the All Progressive Congress, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu become Nigeria’s president. Tinubu is of course engaged in networking towards realizing his lifelong ambition of governing Nigeria so that he can set the country on the path of prosperity similar to what he did during his tenure as governor of Lagos State.

Nigeria Rebirth Platform has taken time to try understanding Bode George’s fixation with Tinubu and all we could conclude is that he is a victim of extreme paranoia driven by his troubled past. This has caused the old man to be hallucinating things that never were. His delusion is so violent that he is driven to aggressively pressure others to join him in his hate-Tinubu obsession.

For instance, George in his latest tirade alleged that Tinubu has cornered Lagos state. He went on to claim that the APC national leader set up a parallel company to the Internal Revenue Service. We are left wondering what planet Bode George came from to have such a perverted mindset. How is it possible that an individual will use a company to replace the tax authority when there is a governor, State House of Assembly and Judiciary. Even this kind of mindset swirls around in Lagos beer parlours and drinking joint, it is irresponsible for an elder of George’s standing to attempt using his fading clout to validate such.

The embattled PDP chieftain also insinuated that Tinubu is running Lagos state by installing successive proxy governments to run the state. This fable is uncharitable even when it came from a man who is known to be persistently disconnected from reality. His suggestion is an insult to the millions of Lagosians who have consistently voted for governorship candidates that they know can deliver on good governance. We are at a loss how George will reduce the millions of votes cast during elections in Lagos state as the handiwork of Tinubu.

If George were in touch with reality, he would have realized that he should rather approach Tinubu as a humble pupil to learn what makes millions of Nigerians eager to align with his vision and vote for candidates associated with him. Had George paid close attention, he would have realized that the Tinubu effect goes beyond Lagos state because he was strategic, in his own way, to APC’s victory nationally in 2015 and 2019 and this would be repeated in 2023.

We also find it surprising that Bode George is oblivious of the fact that the groundwork done by Tinubu has placed Lagos State on a sound economic footing to the extent that it is Africa’s seventh largest economy. This means only Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Angola, and Morocco are ahead of Lagos, which is in turn ahead of some 48 other countries. No wonder right thinking Nigerians are eager for a Tinubu’s presidency.

Predictably, a man who only had his conviction for contract splitting overturned by the Supreme Court on technicalities will certainly be worried at the prospect of a Tinubu who believes in due process. George is possibly afraid that he could be tried for other crimes that could be linked to him when he was in office and that this time he would go to jail for good and for life. But we want to assure him that Tinubu would be too busy piloting Nigeria to becoming the world’s seventh largest economy to have time for a petty contract splitter.

Nigeria Rebirth Platform is therefore calling on Bode George to nurse no fear about his ugly past. Tinubu will grant amnesty to all repentant criminals who stole from our country once they return their loot. He will also facilitate the necessary psychiatric treatment for people like Bode George who are struggling with Pathological Acquisitiveness Syndrome. All he has to do is to make his desire known to Tinubu when he has become president and his case would be considered on compassionate grounds.

But only Bode George can manage himself to be free from Tinubu-phobia that is almost proving fatal for him as he now froths in the mouth each time he hears Tinubu’s name or thinks about 2023. It is a disease that has destroyed those suffering from it like George. They started out being hysterical each time they contemplate the prospect of Tinubu becoming president, they howl and rail in the media until their reputation is in tatters, which eventually leads to depression and possibly death. George, and others suffering from this disease, should approach Tinubu with open minds and get the cure for it.

In the meantime, we suggest that Bode George finds something to distract him from his present compulsive obsession with Tinubu. A ready activity is for him to absorb himself with PDP which is on an accelerated self-destruct mode. If George does not concentrate his energy on saving his party and rather waste his efforts on futilely hounding Tinubu, by 2023 PDP will graduate from being a club of yesterday’s men into an assembly of yesteryear’s men. George and his ilk would have become too irrelevant to be accorded a mention in history by that time.

Thank you.