A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Olabode George, has urged Senator Samuel Anyanwu to let go of the leadership tussle for the sake of party unity.
Speaking during a media parley with Giant Women in Media led by Clementina Olomu, George reiterated the need for internal stability within the PDP to provide a strong opposition.
“Our party should be in a position to give a good punch – a technical knockout punch.
“There is no organization, even between husband and wife, where you will not find quarrels. If you cannot manage conflicts, that reflects either competence or incompetence in the public eye,” he stated.
He commended the BoT’s decision to recognize Sunday Ude-Okoye as the party’s National Secretary, describing it as a step toward resolving the crisis.
Beyond party politics, George criticized Nigeria’s governance structure, arguing that power is too centralized.
“The current constitution is the root of our problems. Every month, states go to Abuja to collect their share of national revenue instead of generating their own. That’s not democracy; it’s a unitary system disguised as federalism,” he said.
Comparing Nigeria’s system to the United States, he noted: “In America, each state has its own resources, local police, and financial autonomy. Here, everything is controlled from Abuja, which is a recipe for failure.”
George urged political leaders to prioritize service over personal gain, warning against the culture of hoarding wealth at the expense of the masses.
“Leadership should be about service, not personal gain. Alexander the Great conquered the world but died with nothing. He even ordered that his hands be left outside his coffin to show he was taking nothing with him,” he stated.
He further decried the state of the economy, youth unemployment, and security challenges, calling for reforms.
His words: “Youth unemployment is another crisis. When I was younger, we had trade centres where people learned carpentry, tailoring, hairdressing, and other skills. Now, nothing. That’s why we have the Yahoo-Yahoo epidemic—because the system has failed young people.”
George stressed that history would not be kind to the country if leaders failed to address economic hardship and social inequality.
“A land of plenty should not have starving citizens. If we don’t change course, history will not be kind to us,” he warned.
