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?click here to see more on this story
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