Why Wike, Makinde and others met in Lagos - Bode George

A former National Vice President of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bode Goerge, said the party's five aggrieved governors gathered in Lagos on Sunday to honor party loyalists in the state.

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Mr. George spoke on Nigeria Info's Daily Digest with Jimi Disu on Tuesday.

Lagos is governed by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and is also the home state of APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu, with whom Mr Wike and some of his supporters have fraternized.< /p>

Mr. George said the governors, also called the G5 but whom he called the "younger ones", are now on the "front line" and were there to honor party loyalists in the state.

"They have the energy to move from location A to location B. I'm closer to 80 now. So why am I running around? There's time for everything," said he said.

"That's why they came, they honored us. They said Baba, we will come to Lagos for the big group briefing."

The G5 led by Governor Nyeson Wike includes Samuel Ortom from Benue State, Seyi Makinde from Oyo State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi from Enugu State and Okezie Ikpeazu from Abia State .

Since Atiku Abubakar became the presidential candidate of the PDP party, governors have been calling for the removal of the party's national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, also from the North like Atiku.

They also demanded that Mr. Ayu be replaced by a southerner to correct the imbalance between the northern and southern regions in the leadership of the main opposition party.

Reiterating this request, Mr. George insisted that Mr. Ayu be replaced by someone from the south.

Mr. Goerge, who ran for the party's national presidency in 2017, said he was not interested in running again.

“If the presidency goes north, the vice president must come south. The senate goes north, the president goes south, the secretary goes north, the party chairman goes south,” he said, speaking on the party's zoning structure.

"So that means odd numbers are numbers in one area, even numbers will be in the other area.

“After eight years, all positions will have to come south and all other positions in the south will go north. So you have ensured continued positive inclusion in the system.”

READ ALSO: PDP Crisis: Wike, Makinde and others meet in Lagos to form Integrity Group

He said that with the situation of things, whenever Atiku is in Lagos campaigning, he would not receive him or attend the event.

He added, however, that "we have not yet closed any doors for reconciliation and proper visitation."

When asked who he would vote for in the next election, the party stalwart replied that he hadn't decided who to vote for yet.

Asked further if there is a chance he would vote for the APC presidential candidate, he replied "never".

Mr. George is a local opponent of Mr. Tinubu in Lagos and has condemned his bid for the presidency after years of raising questions about Mr. Tinubu's indigenous affiliation in Lagos and his academic background.

When asked if he would vote for Labor's Peter Obi, he replied, "I won't answer that question, but it's not closed."

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