Ogunlewe, George Trade Tackles over Tinubu’s Presidential Bid

He stands a better chance, says former works minister He’s talking absolute nonsense, former NPA chair Replies

Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie

Old political allies-turned foes, a former Minister of Works during the Olusegun Obasanjo era, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe and a former Chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Olabode George, yesterday, traded tackles over the rumoured presidential bid of a former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

While Ogunlewe tipped Tinubu as standing a better chance if zoned to South-west, a consideration he claimed to have put in prayers, George would rather dismiss is childhood friend as “talking nonsense”.

They both spoke recently on the Morning Show of the ARISE News Channel, Lagos.

Addressing the possibility of zoning the presidency in 2023, Ogunlewe, who also declared support for the Governor Mai Mala Buni leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said, “My personal prayer is that the Presidency should be zoned to the South-west, so that we can have the capacity to manage the economy of Nigeria properly and there is no other person I will support other than the National Leader of APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu for President.

“But on the other hand, no matter how you publicise the name of some people, they must show the willingness to contest, nobody will offer them that position for free. I think Bola Ahmed Tinubu stands a better chance, because we have people, who have followed politics in Nigeria for quite a while, which we have learnt from and he is one of them; Atiku Abubakar is another person.

“When you want to balance things and also think of who has the mental capacity to manipulate things, Tinubu is good at that. If you talk about structure and investment, he is not a small person in that. He knows his onions, he knows what to do and how to get it as he has done this severally. So, if you want to compete with him, please start early, because he knows how to do things to win,” Ogunlewe further
said.

On the leadership of APC, Ogunlewe, who once represented Lagos East in the Senate, said Buni’s continued stay in office would benefit the party, despite dissenting voices within the ranks.

“I have had the opportunity of reading the judgement of the Supreme Court on Buni, where the first part of it was against Buni, but the judge looked at the case and said it was an internal affair of the party and that the party could go ahead to settle it.

“So, why will anyone want to stampede a political party to do his or her own bidding. The truth is that Buni is here for a purpose, to stabilise the party and to have a consensus candidate from the ward level to the national level, so that there will be no disruptions, and this is strategic,” he said.

He argued that at national convention, the APC could implode if the leadership was not strong, adding that the party needed someone like Buni to stabilise it and prepare for the forthcoming 2023 elections.
“You don’t panic, because somebody is saying don’t go ahead with what’s right. Majority of the members of APC are saying that what Buni is doing now is the correct thing. Only a small minority is opposing it and they cannot over-rule the majority.

“APC governors are next to the party’s Board of Trustees, and they met and took a decision. Whoever is not pleased with the decision can go to court, after all, the court is not meant for one person,” Ogunlewe said.

Also, responding to the position of Lagos4Lagos in the Lagos APC politics, Ogunlewe said he had read their position in the Newspapers, but explained that at the stakeholders’ meeting held before the congresses, it was emphasised that everybody must be carried along and that everybody, who showed his/her face at the ward level was carried along.

“I am from C1 in Ikorodu Local Government (LG), and I went to the ward to sit down with them. You cannot be at the local government level and think that what they are doing at the ward level is wrong, because you will be wrong too. Being at the ward level is a good place to be in order to carry everyone along,” Ogunlewe said.

However, reacting to Ogunlewe’s comment on the projected candidacy of Tinubu, George challenged Ogunlewe for projecting Tinubu as the preferred presidential candidate for the 2023 general election, saying he has contradicted himself.
His words: “I heard him say Bola Tinubu is the best candidate for 2023 presidential election and that got me thinking and worried too. This same Ogunlewe had in the past, condemned the candidacy of Tinubu. Ogunlewe is just like a masquerade in the market place that is never consistent.

“If you take the eight years rule of Tinubu, when he was the governor of Lagos State, and put it on a scale of 1-10, it is obvious that he will scale very low. This is someone that misappropriated Lagos State money, and Ogunlewe is saying he is the right candidate for 2023 election.

“I disagree with him and I will contest this with him, even in the grave yard, because he is talking absolute nonsense. I know that will not happen but if it happens, I will renounce my citizenship immediately.”

On the educational qualification of Bola Tinubu as explained by Ogunlewe, George said: “I can bet with anything that Tinubu does not have the academic qualifications he claims to have. In 1998, the issue of Tinubu’s academic qualifications was raised and he could not defend it.

“Ogunlewe knows for real that Tinubu does not have the academic certificates he claimed to have and I am not hiding it. The days of certificate forgery are over, because people will find out the true position.”

Speaking also about the PDP crisis and his relationship with the party national chairman, George said: “I have no personal grudges with the PDP National Chairman, Mr. Uche Secondus, I only have issues with the way he is managing the affairs of PDP. We have the construction that binds us together as a party and he must abide with the rules of the constitution.

“By the time he deviates from the constitution and starts running the affairs of PDP like a private company, then there will be issues. As an elder statesman, I will always speak up when things are going wrong and when the party, which we all struggled to build, suddenly begins to wobble.”

Accusing Secondus of running the party like a private company, by working outside of the constitution, George explained that, “If I am dedicated to the party, I cannot keep quiet when things go wrong, especially, when we are heading towards election year in 2023. I was happy when members of the Board of Trustees of PDP met and took a decision that will move the party forward, and I am equally happy, when the majority of party members accepted the decision.”

While condemning the electoral processes in Nigeria, the PDP stalwart said the method of voting in Lagos State was ‘rotten’ and absolutely useless, because people were bullied and intimidated and the electorate had given up on Lagos State election – from the local government to governorship election.

He, therefore, frowned at a situation, where Nigeria refused to accept electronic voting system in a country with large population.