Coup Plot Allegation: Nigeria Cannot Afford Another Civil War, Bode George Warns

• Says Ambode doing fantastic in Lagos

Segun James

Following rumours of alleged coup plot by some elements within the military, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has warned that any coup attempt may precipitate another civil war in the country, a problem that the nation cannot afford to go through a second time.

Besides, the former military Governor of the old Ondo State was full of encomiums for the governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, for the wonderful work he has done in transforming the state within two years.

George, who said this in Lagos while reviewing the political situation in the country, warned that no nation has ever survived two civil wars intact, adding that any such move would be ill-advised.

He wondered why people are stoking the fire of ethnicity over 100 years after the amalgamation of the North and South to make a nation, saying that if Nigerians still see things from the point of North versus South, then there is something wrong somewhere.
“I want to beg those making these inflammatory statements to be very careful,” he pleaded.

George who said he has seen it all as a military officer in political position and as a civilian, insisted that the worse form of civilian rule is better than the best of military rule.

He advised any officer interested in politics to resign his commission and join politics instead of planning a coup which might never succeed but plunge the nation into political chaos.

On two years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, George refused to make any comment, saying he would wait for the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment on the crisis in the PDP.

On the lingering crisis in the PDP, George said without prejudice to the judgment, he would retire from politics if Senator Ali Modu Sheriff wins at the Supreme Court, adding that his opinion is that the system which brought him in as chairman was faulty ab initio, hence he would not be in a PDP which has Sheriff as chairman.

“I will never be part of Sheriff’s party. We made terrible mistakes in the past that is why we lost the last election, but if we get things right after the judgment, then there may be true reconciliation.”

Meanwhile, George is full of praises for Governor Ambode, saying that he has performed magic in the way he has transformed the state in two years.

“He has done more than Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola has done in 16 years,” he insisted.
He however stressed that if the fortune of the PDP were to change, “we would bring someone who would perform better than he is doing.”