By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has never won an election for the party, insisting he has no regrets about frustrating George’s ambition to become the party’s national chairman.
The Minister made this known in a statement issued on Friday, 7 August,2026 by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, where he attributed George’s continued criticism of him to resentment over the decision to zone the PDP national chairmanship to the South-South, a move that blocked George’s bid for the position.
Wike said George’s political frustration had been further compounded by the emergence of Deji Doherty, whom he claimed the former PDP chieftain did not want to see take charge of the party in Lagos State.
He explained that George had carried on as though the national chairmanship position was his birthright before the party stopped him in favour of the South-South zone, stressing that George had remained angry ever since.
The Minister recalled that after the PDP national convention, he had, while serving as governor of Rivers State, visited George’s residence in Maitama, Abuja, in an attempt to reconcile with him, but that George’s wife had attempted to walk him out of the house, an incident that was only averted through the intervention of former Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko.
Wike went further to describe George as a failed politician, alleging that despite his long-standing influence and privileges within the PDP, he had failed to deliver electoral victories for the party in Lagos State since 1999, maintaining that the party had continued to manage him despite knowing he added no value.
He argued that leadership of a political party should not be based on name, title or claims of being a founding member, but on the ability to deliver electoral victories, insisting that by that standard, George remained a complete disaster for the party.
To buttress his claim, Wike cited electoral results from George’s former polling unit in Lagos, noting that the PDP had repeatedly failed to secure victory there, disclosing that in the 2019 presidential election, the APC polled 84 votes at George’s Unit 001, Ward E2, Evans Street, Lagos Island, against the PDP’s 40 votes, while in 2023, after George transferred his voter’s card to Eti-Osa, the PDP polled only four votes at his polling unit.
The Minister further claimed that George’s continued media appearances were an indication that he had little else to occupy his time, suggesting that his idleness had made him a source of talking points for others to discuss across television stations.
