In this interview with ENIOLA AKINKUOTU (The Punch), the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Chief Bode George, speaks about the just concluded elections and other national issues
In your clear assessment, what do you think led to the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last elections?
The PDP was not defeated. We were manipulated out and history will judge what I am saying. When (Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission) Prof. Attahiru Jega came up with the use of card readers and Permanent Voter Cards, technically, you would have thought: ‘Thank God, we are in the 21st century, we have arrived.’ Take my state, Lagos, for example, 5.9 million people were registered to vote but until the week before the election which was fortunately postponed, we had 3.8 million PVCs delivered to Lagos. That means 2.1 million people were cut off. In areas where there was insurgency, there was between 80 and 90 per cent distribution rate. Most of Jega’s areas had no problems. Thank God Jega is a professor. Let’s assume that he is teaching a 400-level class in a university. He teaches Classes A, B and C. In Class A, he has completed the syllabus but in Class B, he completed 60 per cent while in class C, he only completed 30 per cent of the syllabus and they are all going to write the same examination. Is that justifiable? Is that equitable? Thus, just looking at that, would he in his own mind, be satisfied that he did a good job?
