Chief Bode George, former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party – South and convicted chairman of Nigeria Port
Authority, tells GBENRO ADEOYE why he will keep on fighting until he
shakes off the ex-convict tag
Are you a thief?
I can refer you to the judgment because it’s already in the public view.
At least, the judge was honest enough to say ‘no kobo was missing’. It
was the greatest convoluted conspiracy that I have ever seen in my life.
But you know, as a Christian, if you have belief in God and your faith
is very strong, you don’t get shaken.
First of all, if we split contract, it would be for whose benefit? I’m
not a contractor; the company did not belong to anybody on the board, so
in whose interest? Two, nobody brought a contractor, whether they
executed the job, whether they were paid the money, we just finished and
the rest was left to the management. Whether they even awarded the
contract, I didn’t know. I’ve been keeping quiet but the public must
know this and those that have been writing ex-convict think they are
abusing me, but they are raining curses on themselves and their families
and it will happen. In the name Jesus, all who are convolutedly
involved, it will happen to them.
People think that Bode George stole money; whoever is putting it down is
raining curses on himself, anytime he writes that. Let him go and find
out exactly what happened.
The debt portfolio of Lagos is unimaginable. God will not forgive these
people. While Lagos is getting broke, Bola Tinubu is getting richer. I
went to his village in Iragbiji where he hailed from, he said he went to
Children’s Home School and Government College Ibadan, I asked my junior
friends who went to GCI, Ibadan, none of them knew him. What’s his real
name? Is his name Bola? What is his family name? The chief of staff to
(Rauf) Aregbesola is his blood brother. He also has an older brother who
retired from the Federal Ministry of Foreign affairs.
When his real mother died, he didn’t go to Osun. I went to the Oba of
Iragbiji, I said we were going to ship him back home. That was at the
peak of the campaign. They told me the primary school he attended, no
secondary school, no-nothing. Suddenly he came back and said he had a
CPA, that’s the equivalent of ACCA. He didn’t even have an APC, he’s a
jiver.
Is your state pardon justifiable?
I haven’t been given any pardon, we served the term and we’re still in
court. I’m still an ex-convict, but we will fight it. My family has
decided we will fight it. Justice Salami was involved when we thought we
would get justice. We went to the Court of Appeal in Lagos, they
presented the case. During the course of discussion, Keyamo was saying
we should have raised the issue of fiat before and they gave a ruling
during that trial that you can raise the fiat issue even at the Supreme
court. But when it got to the final judgment, they reversed themselves.
How do you feel when people refer to you as an ex-convict?
Laughable, when God gives somebody talents and you exhibit that talent
with humility in the belief that you’re doing His work- not your work-
no matter all the firing from sidewalks, it won’t affect you.
Why are you still in politics despite the stain on your reputation in the public eye?
There is no law that forbids me from exercising my voice and my rights,
and vox populi, vox dei- the voice of the people is the voice of God.
Throughout the 18 months I was in Kirikiri (prison), the whole place
turned into a Mecca because the people knew that it was a convoluted
conspiracy. Everywhere I went in the South West, people would say, ‘oga
come and do this, come and do that.’ Should I fold my hands? I believe
in the awesomeness of the Almighty God, He never told us that we would
not have problems and failures but when you crumble and don’t stand up,
then you have failed. Any man who has achieved greatness in life and
says that his way was a freeway all the way, is a liar.
I was reading the latest book of Mandela- ‘Conversations with Myself.’
The opening paragraph states that the prison cell is the best place for
you to discover yourself, because there, no distractions. You will see
yourself in true perspective, what you have done, what you haven’t done,
where you have been fair, where you were not, where you have deceived
yourself, you will see yourself in totality, and then the choice is
yours. Even if you committed an offence and beg for forgiveness, he’s
always there.
And the day I left, that can never be wiped away from my memory. The
night before, all the security agencies in Lagos- Director of SSS,
Commissioner of Police came and said they wanted me. Mustapha was there
and he said ‘oga, don’t follow them, remember this was how they bundled
me one night here’, because the whole place was dark.
They came to my room and said I could go home, I said ‘in this night, so
that they would say Bode was escaping and I would be shot in the back.’
It was around 9 in the night; I said ‘no’, I would wait till tomorrow
morning. And at the cathedral, the provost had to stop the service for
some time because people kept coming in. We thought it would be a one
hour service but it went on for about four hours.
Who arranged for the church service?
I asked for it from the prison, I was going straight to the church.
Why was that?
If you remember those who served prison terms that were political, many
of them didn’t come out. I never went for any medical treatment
throughout the period; I never went outside that gate. The day they let
me out was the first day I set my foot outside the prison gate since I
got in. You say I shouldn’t be thankful to God. My wife was shot. They
shot at her car while I was in the prison. She didn’t do anything
throughout that period. Every blessed day, including Saturday and
Sunday, she was there. And my friends, they were there everyday, the
bullet went through the door and got stuck because the person was on a
motorcycle, so he couldn’t aim well. The car is still there.
For you to survive the place, having been at the level which you came
and survived, where else would you go, to go and socialise? What are you
socialising? My church was coming to give me communion in the prison.
You must have God on your side to survive it, because before you know
it, the devil will swing your mind and you would set yourself into
depression. As a general, you just work out your programme quickly and
adapt.
How did you feel when the pastor said ‘go and sin no more’?
That young boy that said it, he had leanings with the opposition. He was
in Form Four when I was Governor of Ondo State. I was livid but I was
in church. This young man would not derail my thanksgiving to God
Almighty; the crowd was unprecedented. Sin against who? I went the
following morning to challenge the provost; they said ‘no, that’s not
what he meant.’ I said ‘you don’t know this boy, he is an apologist to
Bola Tinubu and co.’ another bishop came to church and said he was
shocked when he watched it. He said that man should go on the altar and
ask for forgiveness from God because he does not know who Bode George
was. When I came, they invited me into the vestry, and asked ‘why did
you decide to come to church?’ I said where else do you think I would
go? Go to Okija shrine? I was healthy, even those who saw me thought I
didn’t go to prison.’ So when this young man was talking garbage there,
you know, you can’t respond there. I went to the provost; this was an
anomaly, a misnomer, absolute rubbish, I didn’t come here for this boy,
of course, nemesis caught up with him too. They’ve taken him out to a
smaller church, that’s where he deserves and the bishop that came said
he watched the programme on the TV and was very angry.
Was he transferred because of what he said or for something else he did?
I don’t know but it must not be unconnected. Aje ke lana, omo ku leni
tani o mo pe aje to ke lana lo pa omo to ku leni? (The witch cried
yesterday and the child dies today, who does not know that the witch
that cried yesterday killed the child today). Let me just stop it there.
It wasn’t our archbishop but another that came and said you don’t know
who Chief Bode George is, for you to say what you said.
Did you have a hand in his demotion?
No, one thing I don’t do is get involved in church politics. The one we
do outside is already there. Why would I be? Everybody saw it live when
he was talking the garbage.
Do you think that the fanfare that greeted your release from prison was worth it?
It was spontaneous. Who could have asked those people to come, who could
have organised it? I was shell-shocked myself. From 5am, people came
from all over this country. Even deputy governors were struggling with
the people outside there. If I had organised all that from inside
prison, then I must be so popular. I remember when former President
Olusegun Obasanjo himself came; he couldn’t even get to the church with
his car. He got out of his car and trekked to the church. My aged
mother came because my sister said I was going to come back. From where?
She didn’t know.
You said you were not guilty, so how did you take the comment by former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, when he described the fanfare as a
celebration of criminality?
That’s true, Baba (Obasanjo) said that we were celebrating criminality
and I was shocked. I was really very shocked. How could I have organised
rally from prison to the church, to gain what? I was the
director-general of the national campaign that brought late President
Yar’Adua and Jonathan on board, would I now say that I wanted to test
my popularity? The popularity started from the very day we were
convicted. From the first day, people were trooping in there. So on that
final day, people came to rejoice, to say thank God, you’re alive, you
haven’t lost your memory, you haven’t had a stroke.
Some people said you bought the aso ebi that your supporters wore to court during proceedings?
One, they brought Bode George to the enemy’s court, it’s like grabbing
an Arab and taking him to an Israeli court – he’s dead on arrival. That
was what they did but they forgot that this is my state. They created
the political scenario. My wife too is a politician and there are some
other women who would come. They had their natural dresses. If they
claimed people wore ankara, so what? I would now go and organise it?
When the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo appeared in court, on the day of
judgment, as young people, we trooped there. We wanted to see our Baba.
It has been and it would always be. Didn’t you see Mandela trial? Would
they ever be watching a political trial and believe that everybody would
just stay home? So what was their headache? If the women were wearing
ankara, did the ankara disturb the court proceedings? Is solidarity
support now an offence? I don’t see the relationship.
Did you enjoy special privileges in prison?
What privileges? There are different blocks and I still feel sorry for
those boys, the overcrowding. Those who are awaiting trial are more than
the inmates. If they are able to hasten all these court processes, that
will help all the boys. I commend the current Chief Judge of Lagos ,
the first thing she did when she was appointed was to decongest the
prison because it’s inhuman. Where you should not have more than 30
persons, you have about 500. So, what are the privileges? Of course, the
food there is very bad, they allow your family to bring food for you,
but whoever brings the food will taste it. So what privileges?
What about prison uniform, did you wear one?
Prison uniform? Who wears them these days? At least there was code of ethics; you are not going to wear your Sunday dress there.
They have to clear all those cases awaiting trial; they are more- like
70 per cent. The prisons are filled with persons awaiting trial. Why?
What is the gain? There is capacity for everything. If you’re
overcrowded, there is problem, you start living like rats. Rather than a
deliberate punishment, they can reform them. That is what prisons are
supposed to be.
How did you explain your troubles to your family while it lasted?
My fear first of all was my mum and my sister did a marvellous job.
Thank God my father is late; I don’t know how he would have taken it.
But my mother is pretty old, about 90 years. I was always travelling so
they told her that I had travelled, until the day before I was released,
when they told her that I was coming back. Until she got to church and
saw me; that was when my sister now told her. And you see, it’s not new
in the family, she came from the Herbert Macaulay stock, and Papa
Macaulay went to jail several times fighting for Nigeria. So she knew
that once you’re in politics, these were the fallouts and so she
understood. Then, she heard on the radio one day and the people were now
quoting Baba (Obasanjo) to say we were celebrating criminality. And you
know, when they translate that in Yoruba, it could be weightier. She
called me and asked, is it true he said you’re a criminal? But I said
no, Mummy, it’s not true. I asked her, am I a criminal? I heard that one
journalist asked Baba about the fallout between me and him, they said
Baba just lost his anger on him.
Whatever it is, I am here and I am home. And I pray that God will give
me more good health and I’m going to put all my thoughts in my memoirs.
This is for one major reason, that the up and coming Nigerians would
read them and learn from the experience of the old people. I’m going to
be 70 in another one and a half years. My mission now, having had this
experience, having seen our people, is to mould them together, to forget
about personal ambition. Let our nation be united for the cause of our
people.
All this pettiness, in-fighting are absolutely unnecessary. If there had
been no struggle or fight between Baba Awolowo and (Ladoke) Akintola,
the South West would have gone far ahead today economically. That fight
tore us to the ground. The petty fighting is gradually raging now in the
South West PDP. The general one is not a problem.
Are you friends with Obasanjo now?
How can you say I and somebody older than me are friends? Baba will
always be my Baba. Of course, I was angry and I’d tell you. I worked
with him like a soldier should work with his boss; your loyalty should
be more than 100 in minimum. I never asked for anything, never. That is
the soldier in me, let it come from your boss, Baba is still alive, you
can ask him. Just do your work.
And on the day when the zoning thing had been concluded and that it was
going to the South East, we thought the zoning for the chairmanship of
the party would come to the South West. When Baba said Bode was not
going, that the chairmanship of the party was going to the South East,
so be it, I said ‘as your lord pleases sir.’ I still went ahead and
fought for Baba, defended him when people were going against him. When
we were having the Board of Trustees Chairmanship thing, I was still the
deputy national chairman, I stood my ground there that day, I said
‘no’, so what was it? But rumours, but I didn’t believe any rumours.
Yes, we disagreed on certain things but it was not a fundamental thing.
I knew Baba because Stella (his late wife) and I grew up together in
Lagos , we were age group. My first wife, Feyi, at that time, we were
very friendly with Baba. It was a reporter that came and said that Baba
said this. We were planning to have a thank-you visit with 20 local
government chairmen from Oni of Ife’s palace, greeting people and ending
up in Baba’s house. When I heard it, I said, no, it’s not true. The
reporter said he was waiting for my reaction. He brought a press
statement. It hit me like a bullet. I turned my chair around, but I said
you know, I don’t believe that Baba said it and if he said it, I’ve
left him to God and his conscience. That was all I said. It wasn’t a
fundamental thing, it was like, from my experience and age, I was
abandoned. That’s how I felt, because I did not commit any crime.
So how is your relationship with Obasanjo now?
No problem. Like I said, in the interest of this nation, in the larger
interest of the Yoruba people and in the interest of our party, I have
swallowed my anger and my pride. Who am I? Yes you can be annoyed but no
matter the annoyance, it must not last more than 24 hours. So I thought
what was I angry for? Here I am; they pulled me up in spite of the
efforts of those who wanted to sink me. The more gold spends time in the
heat, the better the experience. All I know is, I will not steal
government money because no matter how long, nemesis will catch up. If
it doesn’t catch up now, it will catch up with your children. God will
revisit it. I’m not a poor man and I’m not a rich man. I’m not a
contractor and I don’t have the patience to go and sit in front of
someone’s office waiting for contract. Amassing wealth, building
mansions, go round Ikoyi here, all those tall buildings, nobody is
inside. If they had set up businesses to employ or give scholarships to
people to encourage them, those generations will continue to bless them.
How do you hope to rebuild your reputation?
I don’t believe I lost anything. The convoluted conspirators played
their role but they didn’t hit me one second. From my background and my
family background, it didn’t make a damn difference to me, I must tell
you that. If you fall, get up and go and God said you will have
obstacles. These jokers cannot pull me down.
I told you, when I came out, what they wanted to do was bury me alive.
But the people said ‘no.’ They say ex-convict, fine, they say that.
Anywhere you will invite men to come and talk, I will say my own and
that they can’t take away from me. Even that is an added value because
as a person who has gone to prison and come back, out there, you are on a
higher pedestal. I see life better. The one who has seen the top of the
mountain and been to the bottom of the valley is wiser. People seek you
for support because they see you as a leader.
Would you compare Obasanjo’s government with that of President Jonathan?
Well, I didn’t serve in government, I was in the party and I can talk on
both. At the time Baba came, the international community was getting
tired of military administration, so Baba was a midwife to see this
country is back on democratic tenets. We should be able to do this and
achieve that and he was able to do that. They wrote for the forgiveness
of our debt, that’s why we had enough money to do so many things.
Nobody, no individual can finish every job. No nation finishes the job.
The roads were bad, education, health, everywhere was bad, etc, where
were we? Obasanjo came up and said look, we have to get back. By the end
of 2002 to 2003 for the second term, this same crisis started. Because
Baba said he would face the management of the polity and the
international communities to bring it up because of his international
connection and that Atiku should face the politicians, then 22 governors
came up and looked Baba in the eye and said, baba you’re not
marketable. I’m not joking, I was there. I looked at them and thought,
what,this is an insult. That was the beginning of the crisis. That was
worse than this. Time that should have been spent to make the system
work was spent on the struggle.
He tried his best, particularly in telecommunications. He did all he
could. Of course, eight years was more than enough by law, he should go
and he left. We tried to stabilise the PDP. Then, Umaru Yar’Adua came,
very intelligent and committed. I worked closely with him but because he
wasn’t feeling too good, some hawks went into him and took charge and
almost derailed all the things he wanted to do. President Goodluck
Jonathan came, a selfless man. His humility is beyond my comprehension
and people are taking that for granted. His government has done so much.
For the first time, the Federal Government bond is being listed on the
New York Stock Exchange and we say we are not moving. I’m not saying we
are there but it’s a positive beginning.
An average man on the street still complains of suffering everyday?
When will people never suffer? It’s not Jonathan who is responsible;
this is the crux of the matter. I am ready for this debate with anybody
from any other party. Every 30 days, the Federal Government distributes
money from the treasury for state and local government allocation, and
no local government gets less than N100m a month. Now, what’s their
input? The closest government to the people is the local government but
what are they doing? What have they brought to the people? It’s a
three-tier government, what is the local government man doing? They have
their role by constitution.
Did PDP have a hand in Bola Ige’s death?
PDP? Why would PDP want to kill Bola Ige? He was working for us in our
government. He thought that the Afenifere people would automatically
give him a ticket as presidential candidate for AD, he was disappointed.
Baba pulled him back and said ‘come and work for this country’, and he
accepted. He wasn’t a threat to PDP. I was the vice chairman of the
South West then, they had the Yoruba Council of Elders and I related
with them. I went to his house for advice many times in Ibadan . And the
Osun crisis, I wasn’t part of any Osun thing. I was there the day we
went to Oni’s palace, I was there live.
We were there, some boys just came and the security fired some rounds to
scare the boys away and one of them had grabbed Chief Bola Ige’s cap.
We looked for him, but first of all, what we did was to secure him and
get him inside. Then one fellow was killed thereafter in Ife . I called
Baba up and he said he was coming by the weekend. By the time he came,
they had killed Bola Ige. It was more of an Osun crisis. The same thing
happened here, Funsho Williams was murdered. The police bungled the
investigation. They even arrested the boy who had Funsho’s cell phone,
but what happened? But his blood is still raging. I saw his body in his
house, why? They think it’s over, why? What did he do to them?
What do you think about the PDP crisis?
For the umpteenth time, big man, big problem in the local parlance.
PDP is the only party from the swampy forest of the south to the
savannah region in the north. I’ve campaigned snaking through this
country and there is no hamlet you don’t find PDP. When it was
established, conservatives, liberals came together as individuals and
not as tribes. It was Chief Bola Ige who wrote our constitution and also
designed our flag. He sat and worked with Ekwueme, Ciroma and others at
the time, progressives working together that established PDP.
I see Nigeria in our meetings, we will have this kind of crisis, they
are not fundamental crises, because it is when they become fundamental
that they are irretrievable. Politics is the management of the
resources of a nation for the betterment of the people. Politricks is
the management of the resources for the individual pockets. It’s normal
and natural to be ambitious but the corporate interest of Nigeria is
more important than anyone.
How do you feel losing election intermittently in your ward since 1999?
I don’t know where you got that from but I wasn’t the one campaigning, I
don’t live there. Only on election, I just go back to help the people
who are campaigning. Even if they win or lose,that is not a measure of
your political worth. The kind of politics I have played, I’m not the
one actually contesting. If I was the one contesting, it would have been
a different thing.
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