INTERVIEW:I Was Angry When The Pastor Said Go And Sin No More.

Chief Bode George, former Deputy National
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party –
South and convicted chairman of Nigeria
Port Authority, tells GBENRO ADEOYE why
he will keep on fighting until he shakes off
the ex-convict tag...

Are you a thief?

I can refer you to the judgment because it’s
already in the public view. At least, the
judge was honest enough to say ‘no kobo
was missing’. It was the greatest
convoluted conspiracy that I have ever seen
in my life. But you know, as a Christian, if
you have belief in God and your faith is
very strong, you don’t get shaken.
First of all, if we split contract, it would be
for whose benefit? I’m not a contractor;
the company did not belong to anybody on
the board, so in whose interest? Two,
nobody brought a contractor, whether they
executed the job, whether they were paid
the money, we just finished and the rest
was left to the management. Whether they
even awarded the contract, I didn’t know.
I’ve been keeping quiet but the public must
know this and those that have been writing
ex-convict think they are abusing me, but
they are raining curses on themselves and
their families and it will happen. In the
name Jesus, all who are convolutedly
involved, it will happen to them.
People think that Bode George stole money;
whoever is putting it down is raining curses
on himself, anytime he writes that. Let him
go and find out exactly what happened.
The debt portfolio of Lagos is
unimaginable. God will not forgive these
people. While Lagos is getting broke, Bola
Tinubu is getting richer. I went to his village
in Iragbiji where he hailed from, he said he
went to Children’s Home School and
Government College Ibadan, I asked my
junior friends who went to GCI, Ibadan,
none of them knew him. What’s his real
name? Is his name Bola? What is his family
name? The chief of staff to (Rauf)
Aregbesola is his blood brother. He also
has an older brother who retired from the
Federal Ministry of Foreign affairs.
When his real mother died, he didn’t go to
Osun. I went to the Oba of Iragbiji, I said
we were going to ship him back home. That
was at the peak of the campaign. They told
me the primary school he attended, no
secondary school, no-nothing. Suddenly he
came back and said he had a CPA, that’s
the equivalent of ACCA. He didn’t even have
an APC, he’s a jiver.

Is your state pardon justifiable?

I haven’t been given any pardon, we served
the term and we’re still in court. I’m still an
ex-convict, but we will fight it. My family
has decided we will fight it. Justice Salami
was involved when we thought we would
get justice. We went to the Court of Appeal
in Lagos, they presented the case. During
the course of discussion, Keyamo was
saying we should have raised the issue of
fiat before and they gave a ruling during
that trial that you can raise the fiat issue
even at the Supreme court. But when it got
to the final judgment, they reversed
themselves.

How do you feel when people refer to
you as an ex-convict?

Laughable, when God gives somebody
talents and you exhibit that talent with
humility in the belief that you’re doing His
work- not your work- no matter all the
firing from sidewalks, it won’t affect you.

Why are you still in politics despite the
stain on your reputation in the public
eye?

There is no law that forbids me from
exercising my voice and my rights, and vox
populi, vox dei- the voice of the people is
the voice of God. Throughout the 18
months I was in Kirikiri (prison), the whole
place turned into a Mecca because the
people knew that it was a convoluted
conspiracy. Everywhere I went in the South
West, people would say, ‘oga come and do
this, come and do that.’ Should I fold my
hands? I believe in the awesomeness of the
Almighty God, He never told us that we
would not have problems and failures but
when you crumble and don’t stand up,
then you have failed. Any man who has
achieved greatness in life and says that his
way was a freeway all the way, is a liar.
I was reading the latest book of Mandela-
‘ Conversations with Myself.’ The opening
paragraph states that the prison cell is the
best place for you to discover yourself,
because there, no distractions. You will see
yourself in true perspective, what you have
done, what you haven’t done, where you
have been fair, where you were not, where
you have deceived yourself, you will see
yourself in totality, and then the choice is
yours. Even if you committed an offence
and beg for forgiveness, he’s always there.
And the day I left, that can never be wiped
away from my memory. The night before,
all the security agencies in Lagos- Director
of SSS, Commissioner of Police came and
said they wanted me. Mustapha was there
and he said ‘oga, don’t follow them,
remember this was how they bundled me
one night here’, because the whole place
was dark.
They came to my room and said I could go
home, I said ‘in this night, so that they
would say Bode was escaping and I would
be shot in the back.’ It was around 9 in the
night; I said ‘no’, I would wait till tomorrow
morning. And at the cathedral, the provost
had to stop the service for some time
because people kept coming in. We thought
it would be a one hour service but it went
on for about four hours.

Who arranged for the church service?

I asked for it from the prison, I was going
straight to the church.

Why was that?

If you remember those who served prison
terms that were political, many of them
didn’t come out. I never went for any
medical treatment throughout the period; I
never went outside that gate. The day they
let me out was the first day I set my foot
outside the prison gate since I got in. You
say I shouldn’t be thankful to God. My wife
was shot. They shot at her car while I was
in the prison. She didn’t do anything
throughout that period. Every blessed day,
including Saturday and Sunday, she was
there. And my friends, they were there
everyday, the bullet went through the door
and got stuck because the person was on a
motorcycle, so he couldn’t aim well. The
car is still there.
For you to survive the place, having been at
the level which you came and survived,
where else would you go, to go and
socialise? What are you socialising? My
church was coming to give me communion
in the prison. You must have God on your
side to survive it, because before you know
it, the devil will swing your mind and you
would set yourself into depression. As a
general, you just work out your programme
quickly and adapt.

How did you feel when the pastor said
‘go and sin no more’?

That young boy that said it, he had leanings
with the opposition. He was in Form Four
when I was Governor of Ondo State. I was
livid but I was in church. This young man
would not derail my thanksgiving to God
Almighty; the crowd was unprecedented.
Sin against who? I went the following
morning to challenge the provost; they said
‘no, that’s not what he meant.’ I said ‘you
don’t know this boy, he is an apologist to
Bola Tinubu and co.’ another bishop came
to church and said he was shocked when
he watched it. He said that man should go
on the altar and ask for forgiveness from
God because he does not know who Bode
George was. When I came, they invited me
into the vestry, and asked ‘why did you
decide to come to church?’ I said where
else do you think I would go? Go to Okija
shrine? I was healthy, even those who saw
me thought I didn’t go to prison.’ So when
this young man was talking garbage there,
you know, you can’t respond there. I went
to the provost; this was an anomaly, a
misnomer, absolute rubbish, I didn’t come
here for this boy, of course, nemesis caught
up with him too. They’ve taken him out to a
smaller church, that’s where he deserves
and the bishop that came said he watched
the programme on the TV and was very
angry.

Was he transferred because of what he
said or for something else he did?

I don’t know but it must not be
unconnected. Aje ke lana, omo ku leni
tani o mo pe aje to ke lana lo pa omo to
ku leni? (The witch cried yesterday and the
child dies today, who does not know that
the witch that cried yesterday killed the
child today). Let me just stop it there. It
wasn’t our archbishop but another that
came and said you don’t know who Chief
Bode George is, for you to say what you
said.

Did you have a hand in his demotion?

No, one thing I don’t do is get involved in
church politics. The one we do outside is
already there. Why would I be? Everybody
saw it live when he was talking the garbage.

Do you think that the fanfare that
greeted your release from prison was
worth it?

It was spontaneous. Who could have asked
those people to come, who could have
organised it? I was shell-shocked myself.
From 5am, people came from all over this
country. Even deputy governors were
struggling with the people outside there. If
I had organised all that from inside prison,
then I must be so popular. I remember
when former President Olusegun Obasanjo
himself came; he couldn’t even get to the
church with his car. He got out of his car
and trekked to the church. My aged mother
came because my sister said I was going to
come back. From where? She didn’t know.

You said you were not guilty, so how did
you take the comment by former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, when he
described the fanfare as a celebration of
criminality?

That’s true, Baba (Obasanjo) said that we
were celebrating criminality and I was
shocked. I was really very shocked. How
could I have organised rally from prison to
the church, to gain what? I was the
director-general of the national campaign
that brought late President Yar’Adua and
Jonathan on board, would I now say that I
wanted to test my popularity? The
popularity started from the very day we
were convicted. From the first day, people
were trooping in there. So on that final
day, people came to rejoice, to say thank
God, you’re alive, you haven’t lost your
memory, you haven’t had a stroke.

Some people said you bought the aso ebi
that your supporters wore to court
during proceedings?

One, they brought Bode George to the
enemy’s court, it’s like grabbing an Arab
and taking him to an Israeli court – he’s
dead on arrival. That was what they did but
they forgot that this is my state. They
created the political scenario. My wife too
is a politician and there are some other
women who would come. They had their
natural dresses. If they claimed people
wore ankara , so what? I would now go
and organise it?
When the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo
appeared in court, on the day of judgment,
as young people, we trooped there. We
wanted to see our Baba . It has been and it
would always be. Didn’t you see Mandela
trial? Would they ever be watching a
political trial and believe that everybody
would just stay home? So what was their
headache? If the women were wearing
ankara , did the ankara disturb the court
proceedings? Is solidarity support now an
offence? I don’t see the relationship.

Did you enjoy special privileges in
prison?

What privileges? There are different blocks
and I still feel sorry for those boys, the
overcrowding. Those who are awaiting trial
are more than the inmates. If they are able
to hasten all these court processes, that
will help all the boys. I commend the
current Chief Judge of Lagos , the first thing
she did when she was appointed was to
decongest the prison because it’s inhuman.
Where you should not have more than 30
persons, you have about 500. So, what are
the privileges? Of course, the food there is
very bad, they allow your family to bring
food for you, but whoever brings the food
will taste it. So what privileges?

What about prison uniform, did you
wear one?

Prison uniform? Who wears them these
days? At least there was code of ethics; you
are not going to wear your Sunday dress
there.
They have to clear all those cases awaiting
trial; they are more- like 70 per cent. The
prisons are filled with persons awaiting
trial. Why? What is the gain? There is
capacity for everything. If you’re
overcrowded, there is problem, you start
living like rats. Rather than a deliberate
punishment, they can reform them. That is
what prisons are supposed to be.

How did you explain your troubles to
your family while it lasted?

My fear first of all was my mum and my
sister did a marvellous job. Thank God my
father is late; I don’t know how he would
have taken it. But my mother is pretty old,
about 90 years. I was always travelling so
they told her that I had travelled, until the
day before I was released, when they told
her that I was coming back. Until she got to
church and saw me; that was when my
sister now told her. And you see, it’s not
new in the family, she came from the
Herbert Macaulay stock, and Papa Macaulay
went to jail several times fighting for
Nigeria. So she knew that once you’re in
politics, these were the fallouts and so she
understood. Then, she heard on the radio
one day and the people were now quoting
Baba (Obasanjo) to say we were celebrating
criminality. And you know, when they
translate that in Yoruba, it could be
weightier. She called me and asked, is it
true he said you’re a criminal? But I said
no, Mummy, it’s not true. I asked her, am I
a criminal? I heard that one journalist
asked Baba about the fallout between me
and him, they said Baba just lost his anger
on him.
Whatever it is, I am here and I am home.
And I pray that God will give me more good
health and I’m going to put all my thoughts
in my memoirs. This is for one major
reason, that the up and coming Nigerians
would read them and learn from the
experience of the old people. I’m going to
be 70 in another one and a half years. My
mission now, having had this experience,
having seen our people, is to mould them
together, to forget about personal
ambition. Let our nation be united for the
cause of our people.
All this pettiness, in-fighting are absolutely
unnecessary. If there had been no struggle
or fight between Baba Awolowo and
(Ladoke) Akintola, the South West would
have gone far ahead today economically.
That fight tore us to the ground. The petty
fighting is gradually raging now in the
South West PDP. The general one is not a
problem.

Are you friends with Obasanjo now?

How can you say I and somebody older
than me are friends? Baba will always be
my Baba. Of course, I was angry and I’d
tell you. I worked with him like a soldier
should work with his boss; your loyalty
should be more than 100 in minimum. I
never asked for anything, never. That is the
soldier in me, let it come from your boss,
Baba is still alive, you can ask him. Just do
your work.
And on the day when the zoning thing had
been concluded and that it was going to
the South East, we thought the zoning for
the chairmanship of the party would come
to the South West. When Baba said Bode
was not going, that the chairmanship of the
party was going to the South East, so be it,
I said ‘as your lord pleases sir.’ I still went
ahead and fought for Baba, defended him
when people were going against him. When
we were having the Board of Trustees
Chairmanship thing, I was still the deputy
national chairman, I stood my ground there
that day, I said ‘no’, so what was it? But
rumours, but I didn’t believe any rumours.
Yes, we disagreed on certain things but it
was not a fundamental thing. I knew Baba
because Stella (his late wife) and I grew up
together in Lagos , we were age group. My
first wife, Feyi, at that time, we were very
friendly with Baba . It was a reporter that
came and said that Baba said this. We were
planning to have a thank-you visit with 20
local government chairmen from Oni of
Ife’s palace, greeting people and ending up
in Baba’s house. When I heard it, I said,
no, it’s not true. The reporter said he was
waiting for my reaction. He brought a press
statement. It hit me like a bullet. I turned
my chair around, but I said you know, I
don’t believe that Baba said it and if he
said it, I’ve left him to God and his
conscience. That was all I said. It wasn’t a
fundamental thing, it was like, from my
experience and age, I was abandoned.
That’s how I felt, because I did not commit
any crime.

So how is your relationship with
Obasanjo now?

No problem. Like I said, in the interest of
this nation, in the larger interest of the
Yoruba people and in the interest of our
party, I have swallowed my anger and my
pride. Who am I? Yes you can be annoyed
but no matter the annoyance, it must not
last more than 24 hours. So I thought what
was I angry for? Here I am; they pulled me
up in spite of the efforts of those who
wanted to sink me. The more gold spends
time in the heat, the better the experience.
All I know is, I will not steal government
money because no matter how long,
nemesis will catch up. If it doesn’t catch up
now, it will catch up with your children.
God will revisit it. I’m not a poor man and
I’m not a rich man. I’m not a contractor
and I don’t have the patience to go and sit
in front of someone’s office waiting for
contract. Amassing wealth, building
mansions, go round Ikoyi here, all those
tall buildings, nobody is inside. If they had
set up businesses to employ or give
scholarships to people to encourage them,
those generations will continue to bless
them.

How do you hope to rebuild your
reputation?

I don’t believe I lost anything. The
convoluted conspirators played their role
but they didn’t hit me one second. From my
background and my family background, it
didn’t make a damn difference to me, I
must tell you that. If you fall, get up and go
and God said you will have obstacles. These
jokers cannot pull me down.
I told you, when I came out, what they
wanted to do was bury me alive. But the
people said ‘no.’ They say ex-convict, fine,
they say that. Anywhere you will invite men
to come and talk, I will say my own and
that they can’t take away from me. Even
that is an added value because as a person
who has gone to prison and come back,
out there, you are on a higher pedestal. I
see life better. The one who has seen the
top of the mountain and been to the
bottom of the valley is wiser. People seek
you for support because they see you as a
leader.

Would you compare Obasanjo’s
government with that of President
Jonathan?

Well, I didn’t serve in government, I was in
the party and I can talk on both. At the time
Baba came, the international community
was getting tired of military administration,
so Baba was a midwife to see this country
is back on democratic tenets. We should be
able to do this and achieve that and he was
able to do that. They wrote for the
forgiveness of our debt, that’s why we had
enough money to do so many things.
Nobody, no individual can finish every job.
No nation finishes the job. The roads were
bad, education, health, everywhere was
bad, etc, where were we? Obasanjo came
up and said look, we have to get back. By
the end of 2002 to 2003 for the second
term, this same crisis started. Because Baba
said he would face the management of the
polity and the international communities to
bring it up because of his international
connection and that Atiku should face the
politicians, then 22 governors came up and
looked Baba in the eye and said, baba
you’re not marketable. I’m not joking, I was
there. I looked at them and thought,
what,this is an insult. That was the
beginning of the crisis. That was worse
than this. Time that should have been
spent to make the system work was spent
on the struggle.
He tried his best, particularly in
telecommunications. He did all he could.
Of course, eight years was more than
enough by law, he should go and he left.
We tried to stabilise the PDP. Then, Umaru
Yar’Adua came, very intelligent and
committed. I worked closely with him but
because he wasn’t feeling too good, some
hawks went into him and took charge and
almost derailed all the things he wanted to
do. President Goodluck Jonathan came, a
selfless man. His humility is beyond my
comprehension and people are taking that
for granted. His government has done so
much. For the first time, the Federal
Government bond is being listed on the
New York Stock Exchange and we say we
are not moving. I’m not saying we are there
but it’s a positive beginning.

An average man on the street still
complains of suffering everyday?

When will people never suffer? It’s not
Jonathan who is responsible; this is the
crux of the matter. I am ready for this
debate with anybody from any other party.
Every 30 days, the Federal Government
distributes money from the treasury for
state and local government allocation, and
no local government gets less than N100m
a month. Now, what’s their input? The
closest government to the people is the
local government but what are they doing?
What have they brought to the people? It’s
a three-tier government, what is the local
government man doing? They have their
role by constitution.

Did PDP have a hand in Bola Ige’s death?

PDP? Why would PDP want to kill Bola Ige?
He was working for us in our government.
He thought that the Afenifere people would
automatically give him a ticket as
presidential candidate for AD, he was
disappointed. Baba pulled him back and
said ‘come and work for this country’, and
he accepted. He wasn’t a threat to PDP. I
was the vice chairman of the South West
then, they had the Yoruba Council of Elders
and I related with them. I went to his house
for advice many times in Ibadan . And the
Osun crisis, I wasn’t part of any Osun thing.
I was there the day we went to Oni’s
palace, I was there live.
We were there, some boys just came and
the security fired some rounds to scare the
boys away and one of them had grabbed
Chief Bola Ige’s cap. We looked for him, but
first of all, what we did was to secure him
and get him inside. Then one fellow was
killed thereafter in Ife . I called Baba up
and he said he was coming by the
weekend. By the time he came, they had
killed Bola Ige. It was more of an Osun
crisis. The same thing happened here,
Funsho Williams was murdered. The police
bungled the investigation. They even
arrested the boy who had Funsho’s cell
phone, but what happened? But his blood
is still raging. I saw his body in his house,
why? They think it’s over, why? What did he
do to them?

What do you think about the PDP crisis?

For the umpteenth time, big man, big
problem in the local parlance.
PDP is the only party from the swampy
forest of the south to the savannah region
in the north. I’ve campaigned snaking
through this country and there is no hamlet
you don’t find PDP. When it was
established, conservatives, liberals came
together as individuals and not as tribes. It
was Chief Bola Ige who wrote our
constitution and also designed our flag. He
sat and worked with Ekwueme, Ciroma and
others at the time, progressives working
together that established PDP.
I see Nigeria in our meetings, we will have
this kind of crisis, they are not fundamental
crises, because it is when they become
fundamental that they are irretrievable.
Politics is the management of the resources
of a nation for the betterment of the
people. Politricks is the management of the
resources for the individual pockets. It’s
normal and natural to be ambitious but the
corporate interest of Nigeria is more
important than anyone.

How do you feel losing election
intermittently in your ward since 1999?

I don’t know where you got that from but I
wasn’t the one campaigning, I don’t live
there. Only on election, I just go back to
help the people who are campaigning. Even
if they win or lose,that is not a measure of
your political worth. The kind of politics I
have played, I’m not the one actually
contesting. If I was the one contesting, it
would have been a different thing.

SOURCE: PUNCHNG 

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