By Editor
A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bode George, has accused former Senate President, David Mark, who is now the Interim National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, of contributing to the internal crisis currently rocking the PDP.
Speaking in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, George alleged that Mark was responsible for organising the controversial national convention, which according to him, laid the foundation for the party’s crisis.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Mark, former Jigawa and Sokoto state governors, Sule Lamido and Aminu Tambuwal respectively, among others at a meeting in Abuja last week, urged PDP members to join the ADC to rescue the nation in the next general election.
“The meeting encourages all well-meaning PDP members and other patriotic Nigerians to join the coalition. All coalition partners must be united on the issues of national unity, democracy, national security, national economy and the political will to stamp out corruption embedded in our institutions.
“The PDP, which is organic with the discipline, capacity, and history to lead and save Nigeria, is now a shadow of its old self. The heatwave unleashed by the APC-Federal Government through threats, blackmail and patronage has forced elected officers in government to abandon the PDP,” Mark said in a communique he read at the end of the meeting.
But reacting to Mark’s call, George, a former Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, chided the former senate president for abandoning the party in times of trouble, stressing that the PDP’s crisis was traceable to the retired army general.
He said, “I am deeply ashamed of that statement coming from David Mark, asking PDP members to join the ADC. It is extremely disgraceful. I am heartbroken. What is annoying is that these people have chosen to abandon their father’s house, where they were born. You left a house that produced and nurtured you just because there is one crisis or the other in that house?
“This is not about Mark being arrogant; he is disgraceful and unworthy. We are talking about a retired Army General here, behaving like a rolling stone that gathers no moss. I was there when our party hierarchy decided he was going to be our nominee for the Office of the Senate President. He was the Chairman of the convention that brought about the crisis in the PDP today, because they manipulated the process established by the founding fathers.”
The PDP chieftain described Atiku, Mark and others as ingrates and a disappointment to the memories of the founding fathers of PDP.
He said, “These people are perpetually dancing on the graves of those babas who gave their lives and everything for the party. That comment he made that PDP is now a shadow of its former self is unacceptable to people like me.
“He (Mark) has no right to demonise the party. If a civilian said what he said, we can ignore but we (military personnel) were trained to have respect for processes and tradition. What will these people tell their children? Who created the shadow he is talking about? Who chaired the convention where everything was turned upside down?
