Jamiu Yisa

Former Southwest Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has said that anybody who says the president asked him to resign as Minister in order to clinch the PDP gubernatorial ticket in Lagos State, is telling a blatant lie.

George who stated this while addressing journalists in his Ikoyi office, added that any aspirant who claimed he has been endorsed by the Presidency as the torchbearer of the party in the state is equally telling a lie.

He said further that the party cannot afford to field a candidate with tons of albatross for the 2015 governorship elections in the state.

Although he did not mention any person, the references were unmistakably about Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who resigned from the Federal Cabinet as minister of state for defence, to contest for the PDP governorship race in Lagos state. Obanikoro had contested the governorship in 2007, against the incumbent, Raji Fashola, but was roundly beaten to a distant second place.

He told reporters that President Jonathan has said that whoever will emerge as the candidate of the party will be the decision of the people.

“If anyone says the president asked him to resign as Minister so that he will get the PDP ticket in Lagos, that is the greatest lie. That is blatant lie,” he averred.

He also advised aspirants of the party with questionable character to stay off the track of seeking the PDP ticket, adding that the PDP will field only the best.

“Whoever will emerge as the candidate of the PDP for a state like Lagos must reflect the future we are looking at. I am telling you that any aspirant with a questionable character should stay off.

” We have set up a committee that will screen the aspirants and their terms of reference will be to ensure that the candidate is a man with sound education, respectable, responsible, acceptable, with a pedigree in management of people and resources and marketable”.

“These are the parameters we will use to put everybody on the scale. This is not 2003, 2007 where anyone can provide false information. It is computer age and people can expose your lies easily. This is our season and we cannot afford to waste it by fielding an unpopular candidate” he said.