Former governor of
Old Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa last week lambasted the former deputy
national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Bode George
for accusing former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmded Timubu, of
masterminding his imprisonment. He said Mr George was betrayed by a
corrupt cabal within the PDP led by former president, Olusegun
Obasanjo. He also berated the Lagos chapter of the PDP for organising a
reception for Mr George who was jailed for corruption.
Mr George was
recently released from the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos,
where he spent two years for contract splitting and inflation when he
was chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
He was charged to
court on a 63-count by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) and was later sentenced to two years imprisonment in 2009 by a
Lagos Federal High Court. On leaving the prison last month, Mr George
was accorded a grand reception by the Lagos chapter of the PDP.
Speaking on the
development in a chat with NEXT, Mr Musa carpeted the church where a
thanksgiving service was held for the former PDP leader, and Lagos PDP
for celebrating the release of Mr George, who was convicted for
stealing public funds. He said the presence of Mr George at the PDP
presidential rally in Oyo State barely two days after he left the
prison, exposed the corrupt tendencies of the party and President
Goodluck Jonathan’s tolerance of corruption.
“We have the same
thing in Muslims and Christians where a thief will steal money from
public funds and give contribution to the mosque and to the church.
This happens in Nigeria. The church would have organised such
thanksgiving if Bode George had repented and demonstrated such for a
period of time,” he said.
Blame game
Mr Musa described
Mr George’s statement that Mr Tinubu was behind his ordeals as
laughable and baseless, stressing that Mr Tinubu had no hand in the
conviction of Mr George since Mr Tinubu was not the judge that
convicted him. He however advised the former NPA Chairman to blame
members of his cabal and Mr Obasanjo for his misfortune. He said Mr
George was sacrificed probably because he refused to surrender the
looted money in his custody.
“If you look at
the amount involved, there is no way he (Mr. George) could have
embezzled a whooping N84 billion. After all, Bode George was chairman
of NPA during Obasanjo’s administration,” Mr Musa said.
While criticising the former president for saying he was tricked to
attend the post-prison reception for Mr George, Mr Musa said the former
president is a “big devil” to be deceived by anybody. He added that the
former president made the statement as a face-saving action due to
public criticism against the reception. Similarly, Mr Musa condemned
the parallel PDP women wing presidential campaign rallies embarked by
the wife of the president, Patience Jonathan, describing it as abuse of
privilege and wasting tax payers’ money. He accused the First Lady and
the PDP of using public money for their campaigns and therefore
challenged Mrs. Jonathan to make public the source of her campaign
funds.
