Obasanjo Removed Clothes For Fayose – George

Chief Bode George has spoken on how President Olusegun Obasanjo in the run-up to the first election of Ayodele Fayose as governor of Ekiti State fell in love with him after breakfast in the Presidential Villa.

George in the interview with Daily Independent also disclosed how Obasanjo shamed Fayose’s enemies in the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP who denied him (Fayose) the Aso Ebi worn for a campaign rally in Ado Ekiti.

Noting how he made way for Fayose to approach Obasanjo in the period before the 2003 governorship election, George said:

“At one time, we were in Ado-Ekiti and they said there is a young man who was providing the basic needs for the people. He brought tankers and was giving them free water and also pharmaceutical support. Somehow, he won the hearts of the common people. These are the people who will stay at the polling stations on election day.

“The first time I met him with his wife, he has one hotel called Spotless. I saw all the tankers going out to give free water to the people in Ado- Ekiti. That was something unimaginable and the people kept asking ‘Who is this?’. The truth is, if somebody came to you and gave you the basic needs of life, he will wake you up and you will see him as the messiah. I met with him and his wife, who is a very religious woman. I told him that I will be in Abuja on Sunday and I will take him to meet Baba (then president, Olusegun Obasanjo).

“So, I told Fayose to meet me in Abuja and he came. I took him to the Church service in the villa. After the service, I took him to the President for breakfast. That was his first meeting with Baba Obasanjo and that was how Baba knew him (Fayose) and also developed interest in him,” George said.

“After their meeting, I told him ‘Look, your election will not be in the villa. So, don’t limit your good works to Ado-Ekiti, spread it out. Let your people in Afao-Ekiti and other parts of the state hear the good news’. And I remembered he did! Then, something dramatic happened to him which God used me to intervene.

“The reality is that some of our party members in Ekiti don’t like him. They said he is an interloper who came from nowhere to reap from where he did not sow. When the complaints got to me, I called them and I said PDP is not a private company, it is a political organization and everybody who feels he wants to join should be welcomed with open hands. Our boat is big enough and ready to take as many as possible.

“When the governorship primary came, of course, Fayose won and he became our candidate. The President was now going round all the states to campaign and give our flags to our candidates. The Ekiti PDP then sew a common uniform (Aso Ebi) which is expected to be worn by the President, (Obasanjo) the governorship candidate (Fayose) and lots of other people to show the carnival-like aspect of the party,” George said.

“They didn’t give the cloth to Fayose and I never knew as I was busy with lots of assignment here and there. The night before the rally, the president was going to arrive in Akure. The plan was that we will have the Ondo PDP rally first and handover the flag to Agagu first and then proceed to Ado-Ekiti. At midnight, Dare Adeleke, who was the Zonal Youth leader of the PDP in the South-West brought Fayose to me in my hotel. He kept knocking my door and I said who is that? He said ‘Oga, it is Dare sir’. I said ‘Okay, you can come in’. When they entered. I enquired what the problem was that brought them to my place in the midnight and he said ‘Sir, they sew Aso Ebi and they didn’t give this man who is our governorship candidate. Fayose was just looking, he couldn’t utter a word. When I heard the story, I was shocked because Baba Obasanjo was to arrive Akure at 8am in the morning. Who will I be calling by midnight to get the cloth for Fayose? Dare then suggested that they can go to Oje in Ibadan that midnight to get a material that the President and Fayose can wear. I gave them N250,000. They both left around past midnight.

“By 6am, they returned with these two dresses. I gave Fayose’s own to him and then I kept the other one for the President.

“When Baba landed in Akure, as they put the gangway there, against protocol, I just went up to meet him inside the aircraft. I quickly did that because once he was down, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to talk with him privately again because of the crowd.

“Everybody knew something was wrong when they saw me going into the aircraft. I went to Baba’s room in the plane. I told those I met there to excuse us and I shut the door. I said ‘Sir, the dress you are wearing, they didn’t give it to our candidate in Ekiti’. Baba said ‘What’?! I said they didn’t give him and you were supposed to wear the same outfit for the rally in Ado-Ekiti. I now told him how we were able to quickly get another cloth for him and Fayose. He now said ‘Okay, Bode. When we finish in Akure, we will be going to commission the NTA station in Ado-Ekiti. After that commissioning in the crowd, he will just call my name ‘Bode’! Once I hear that, I should carry the dress and we will go into the studio to change into the outfit that we bought.

Continuing, George said: “So, immediately we finished the ceremony, Baba (Obasanjo) mentioned my name headed for the studio. People scampered out of the place, wondering what the President want inside the studio. So, both of us went inside and he changed his agbada and sokoto from the original Aso Ebi into the one we quickly arranged. In the meantime, Fayose had worn his own and was already at the stadium waiting with other party leaders to receive the President.

“After the commissioning, Baba was still wearing their uniform until he entered the studio to change. Immediately after the commissioning, all the party leaders quickly headed to the stadium for the arrival of the President, not knowing that Baba had changed his outfit.

“After he was done, we went in his car with his ADC and all the presidential convoy to the stadium in Ado-Ekiti. That was the gift that gave Ayo Fayose that day. When President Obasanjo got into the stadium, people were shocked to see him wearing the same outfit with Fayose. Unbelievable! The uproar in the field was amazing,” George said.

“The party members who were wearing the general outfit became angry and started throwing sachet water at the party leaders, thinking they deceived them by giving them a different cloth from what the President wore. That was the extra mile we went and the total support we gave Fayose to become governor then.

“This is the same Fayose that came on national television to abuse and call me all sorts of unprintable names when I indicated interest in the national chairmanship position of our party.

“He said Chief Bode George should go and retire from politics and we the younger people will retire him forcefully if he fails to listen. When the BBC Yoruba came to interview me, I said unless the Almighty God did not use me to get to that level where he got today. I also said that he will live to regret it. It is not a curse; it is a statement of fact and I still stand by it.

“Although he phoned me recently and he said all kinds of things. He called me this week that he wanted to come and see me. I told him you know my office. When you are in trouble, you know where to come. Is it the first, second or third time he will run here? What do I need from him?”

Send Us A Press Statement Advertise With Us Contact Us

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG