How Tinubu stopped me from fleeing Nigeria – Bode George

Bode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has revealed that President Bola Tinubu sent his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila to beg him against leaving Nigeria due to his emergence as president.

The PDP chieftain who appeared on The Morning Show, a breakfast programme on Arise News Television, on Wednesday, took time to explain why he still in Nigeria more than one year after Tinubu became President, despite threatening to leave the country should he emerge so.

He spoke against the backdrop of comments by Nyesom Wike, former Governor of Rivers State and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who had last week wondered why George had not left the country as he promised upon which he dismissed his suggestion that the former governor should allow Sim Fubara, his successor to take charge of the PDP structure in the state as unserious, coming from a man who could not keep his words.

Speaking on the issue, George, former Military Governor of Ogun State and leader of the PDP in Lagos, told his hosts how Femi Gbajabiamila, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and now Chief of Staff to Tinubu, was sent by the President to practically beg him to shelve the plans.

The party leader also spoke of how some other Yoruba leaders also led a delegation to his Lagos home to persuade him to soft-pedal, saying it was on account of that that he dumped the plan, adding that he truly meant leaving Nigeria

George, who described Nigeria under Tinubu as a mess, particularly bewailed the current suffering Nigerians had been subjected to, saying this was enough reasons for the PDP to put its acts together in order to ensure a change of guard at the Presidency by 2027.

He also explained his earlier statement a few months ago that the President should be given some time, arguing that what he suggested was time enough to learn the ropes in his wider assignment of presiding over the affairs of more than 250 million Nigerians from all ethnic persuasions as different from being governor of Lagos.

In this regard, he stressed what he suggested was just one year, which he said was long enough to serve as a learning curve, adding that with the picture of things in the country, it had shown that the President really learnt nothing.