By Olanrewaju Adesanya
Former National Vice Chairman Southwest of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Olabode George has been told to either shut up or leave the party as he no longer has any electoral value in Lagos State or the southwest.
The party’s Lagos State governorship candidate in the 2019 general elections Mr Jimi Agbaje made this known in Lagos on Wednesday.
It would be recalled that there has been a growing disquiet among party faithful on Chief Olabode George to retire over the party’s continued loss in Lagos State.
The campaign has been championed by the embattled state chairman of the party Mr Segun Adewale.
Agbaje was responding to a statement by George that he has dumped the PDP for the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Agbaje’s media spokesperson, Felix Oboagwina, in a statement on Wednesday, said the politician was still in the PDP and there is no plan defect.
He described the statement from the former Deputy National Chairman of PDP Chief Bode George as “a false narrative.”
He urged George to leave the party if he could no longer add value to PDP.
He said: “People should please tell Bode George to shut up and leave PDP if he lacks any value to add to the party, instead of being a dog in the manger hampering the progress of the party in Lagos State.”
He said Agbaje had never been a member of APC and talks of his “returning” to the ruling party had never crossed his mind.
According to him: “That false narrative is the product of a sick mind. Or how else do you describe someone who just sits down to concoct fiction and markets it as reality? He should tell the world where he got the news being spreading round.
“These shameless party leaders have 2023 in mind. The game-plan is mischievously simple: Give the dog a bad name and chase it away from the party. By 2023, this mudslinging will have scared off credible people from the party, which will leave the whole field to them to continue to corner party resources.
“I am too big to sneak out of one party into another one. And the reality remains that I have not left PDP for any other party, least of all APC.”
He blamed the false narrative on the same set of self-styled party leaders who, on the eve of the governorship election, went to declare for a rival candidate.
“These are people who feel that they want to continue business as usual within PDP,” he said. “All their interest revolves upon sharing campaign and election funds without giving any thought to how to elevate the party’s chances at the polls or adding value to the process
He pointed out that as long as the PDP National Headquarters continued to pamper the divisive characters and pander to their whims, so long would the party continue to fail in elections in Lagos State.