I will create youth mentoring platform if elected PDP national chairmanship -Bode George

An aspirant for the National Chairmanship position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has promised to create a platform aimed at mentoring the youths and properly preparing them for leadership and governance if elected.

Chief George made the promise while interacting with the chairmen of the PDP in the 36 states of the country at the Druz Resort and Events Centre at the weekend in Abuja as part of his nationwide consultations with party stakeholders.

He pointed out that the initiative is an important requirement for building a credible leadership succession line in the country.

George, a one-time Deputy National Chairman (South) of the opposition party, disclosed that part of the vision of the founding fathers for PDP was to promote popular participation in the governance of the country by all groups of stakeholders, including the youths.

He stressed that it was very important to create a platform that would effectively mentor the youth for leadership and governance so that the country can have a succession of leaders who know what to do, at any point in time, to progressively move the nation forward.

The former Military Administrator of Ondo and Lagos States, said that in all the years he has been in leadership positions in the party, he had always supported every effort to ensure that the party remained connected to all the critical stakeholders and through them to the general populace whose mandate the party would always need to remain in power in the service of the country.

Chief George recalled that he was instrumental to the formation of Group 84 which was supported and promoted by the state chairmen of the party in the 36 states of the country and the federal capital territory many years ago when some powerful elements attempted to hijack the party.

He said the state chairmen foiled the attempt and insisted that PDP was a grassroots party and must remain guided by the collective aspirations of the people.

His words, “We cannot afford to make .mistakes now. We must get it right, be fair and just to all and keep connected to the people. They are our strength and God helping us, the party shall be victorious in the next elections.

“And now is the time to begin to mentor our youths and raise from among them a crop of credible, resourceful, dynamic and patriotic leaders.

If I am elected, I will involve the youths in leadership positions including putting them in various committees where they will learn the ropes and gain necessary experience to become good leaders”, he said.

George who is currently a member of its Board of Trustees (BOT) solicited the support of the state chairmen for his chairmanship bid.

He said a lot of people in the party knew that he is a team player and that he will work with everyone to make PDP great again.

The erstwhile Deputy National Chairman of the PDP said he was prepared to deploy, for the success of the party in the next elections, the vast wealth of experience he had gathered from the various leadership positions he had held in the party in the past

and the high rate of success he achieved in the various assignments he had the privilege to undertake for the party, including directing the 2007 presidential campaign which led the party to win 28 out of the 36 states of the country.

Responding, the chairman of the State Chairmen’s Forum, Mr. Ekpo, who is the state chairman of the party in Akwa Ibom State, commended George for his courage and exemplary service to the party.

Expo noted that the nation needed to be resuscitated from its present state of abject hardship and that PDP remained the only party that can take her out of the doldrums.

He said the state chairmen will take George’s message back to the stakeholders in their states adding that the party needed an experienced, tested and credible hand to lead it to rescue the nation at this point in time.

Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja