The National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South-West, Adedeji Doherty, has warned the former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Bode George, to desist from his incessant criticisms of its national leader and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, or face expulsion from the party.

Reacting to the recent Supreme Court judgment, Doherty maintained that the ruling was timely and had concluded as expected. He insisted that the PDP would, henceforth, “wield its big stick” to sanction any recalcitrant member seeking to play the role of a spoiler.

“We won’t hesitate to expel Chief Bode George from his ward and local government in Lagos State if he continues to malign Wike in the media. Enough is enough!”

Doherty stated that he had predicted last year that the South-West convention—spearheaded by Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde—would dwindle the fortunes of the PDP. He noted that the event was held without recourse to the statutory framework of the party, which dictates that congresses from the ward to the state level must be concluded before a national convention. He likened Makinde’s actions to the Biblical harlot who suggested the king divide a living baby in two, knowing her own child was dead, simply to spite the rightful mother.

Continuing, he argued that if the aggrieved members were genuine in their pursuit, they would have met with Wike to reconcile with the party following the Appeal Court judgment. Instead, he noted, they proceeded to the Supreme Court despite knowing that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) timeline was too tight to accommodate such processes seamlessly.

He was particularly irked by the attitude of Governor Makinde, whom he accused of moving from Ibadan to Lagos in 2019 to disrupt his election as national ex-officio.

“I can assure you, no political party worth its salt, would admit Makinde. You claimed you are working for the PDP but at the same time, you assembled people at Ibadan, claiming that you’re working towards a coalition. Who does that?”

On the future of the PDP given the exodus of several leaders, Doherty claimed the outlook is brightening each day the party secures a legal victory.

“The court experience is a bittersweet pill. It brings an end to the so-called factionalisation of members,” he added.

Doherty also referenced comments credited to the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Kabiru Turaki-led NWC, Senator Adolphus Wabara. Wabara reportedly stated that the Supreme Court affirmed the suspension of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Umar Bature, and Ajibade; however, Doherty dismissed this, suggesting the former Senate President was being “too clever by half.”

“The Supreme Court struck out the appeal; so what’s Senator Wabara talking about? In any case, you have the appellant and defendant. How can you say there is no winner when the apex court nullified their convention in Ibadan?”

“It’s unfortunate that some older people won’t respect themselves. How do you now want young people to respect them? Sen Wabara called a meeting of BoT and he was not there physically.

“Even Chief George, who has made it his rhetoric that ‘the BoT is the conscience’ of the PDP and would take over the running of the party during a crisis, where is that written in our constitution?

“Now, they are jumping out of the party. Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi has joined the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and we learnt Makinde too is on his way out. If they truly believed in the party, they would have joined hands to salvage it.” (The Sun)