Post by Vanguard Newspapers (@vanguardngrnews)

By Omeiza Ajayi

Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has insisted that the Abuja property owned by former Peoples Democratic Party PDP Deputy National Chairman, Bode George, was acquired with funds traced to Rivers State.

Olayinka, in a statement on Thursday, said the minister stood by his earlier claim on the matter, stressing that the issue was never about who sold the property or the agent involved, but the source of the money used to acquire it.

“Wike was clear. He said Bode George’s Abuja house was acquired with funds from Rivers State, and he stands by this. Bode George said he bought the property from a private owner through an agent. That is not the issue. Wike’s statement was never about who the property was purchased from or through. Rather, what he said was that the money with which the property was acquired came from Rivers State, and this is the question Bode George must answer,” Olayinka said.

The presidential aide’s statement was a response to recent media appearances by the former military governor whom he accused of lacking the moral standing to lecture Nigerians on corruption.

Olayinka told Chief George to borrow some maturity from those he served with as Military Governor of the old Ondo State 38 years ago, urging him to rest rather than continue what he called an embarrassment to himself and the Yoruba race.

“For someone who was Military Governor of the old Ondo State in 1988 (38 years ago), some level of decorum and maturity is expected. But it is becoming an embarrassment the way a man like Chief Bode George, who should be acting like an elder statesman, is jumping from one television station to the other to malign people who are young enough to be his children,” he said.

He also challenged Bode George to account for the PDP’s poor political fortunes in Lagos State under his leadership, noting that the party had failed to win a single polling unit in the state since 1999.

“Since 1999, he has not won his polling unit for the PDP. Unlike Lagos State, we have had PDP governors in Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo and Osun States. Methinks rather than doing ‘cho cho cho’ all the time, Bode George needs to tell Nigerians why PDP has remained at the sideline in the politics of Lagos State since 1999,” Olayinka said.

Citing Yoruba tradition, Olayinka argued that respect for elders was not automatic but conditional on the elder avoiding self-disrespect, and accused Bode George of failing to honour a string of public vows to leave Nigeria should President Bola Tinubu ascend to power.

“In Yorubaland, it is a strict cultural and traditional rule to respect elders. However, this respect is not automatic, it is conditional and the major condition is that an elder must avoid disrespecting himself,” he said.

He listed several occasions between 2015 and 2022 on which Bode George pledged to renounce his Nigerian citizenship or relocate abroad if Tinubu became president, including a March 2022 press briefing where he was quoted as saying he would “go to Ghana and be watching with binoculars from afar.”

Olayinka said; “In 2015, ahead of the presidential election, Bode George promised to go on exile if APC emerged victorious in the presidential election.

“In February 2020, he said he will disown Nigeria to take the citizenship of Togo or any other country if Tinubu is elected president.

“On May 7, 2021, on Arise News, Bode George echoed his stand that he will cease to be a Nigerian should Tinubu get the presidency.

“Also in 2021, while featuring on Arise News, Bode George said he will review and renounce his citizenship of Nigeria if Tinubu becomes president.

“In January 2022, after Tinubu had announced his bid to contest for president, Bode George said he will move away from Nigeria.

“At a press briefing on March 19, 2022, Bode George further reiterated that his promise to leave Nigeria if Tinubu emerged president was no joke.

“He said then that ‘If by whatever chance he (Tinubu) gets to the villa, I won’t be part of this country. And I am not joking. I can go to Ghana and be watching with binoculars from afar.’

“Now, it is more than three years of Tinubu as President and he (Bode George) has failed to honour his own words. Should such an elder still be regarded as honourable?”

The post Bode George’s Abuja house funded by Rivers money, Wike’s aide insists appeared first on Vanguard News.

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/08/bode-georges-abuja-house-funded-by-rivers-money-wikes-aide-insists/

0 likes · 0 comments · 0 shares