Sowunmi’s call for Bode George’s arrest sign of frustration – aide

By Chinelo Obogo, Lagos

The Special Adviser on Media to the former Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, Olusegun Edwards, has described the call by Segun Sowunmi, former Spokesman to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for the arrest of Chief Olabode George as a sign of frustration and disillusionment over his loss, in his failed bid to become the Governorship candidate of PDP in Ogun State.

Reacting to what he described as an unwarranted attack on George by Sowunmi, he said Sowunmi is jaundiced and parochial to have made such a disdainful statement against a revered Chief George, The Atoona Odua of Yorubaland, who is always looked upon for his fatherly advice.

“He (Sowunmi) is suffering from the disillusionment of his loss of PDP’s governorship ticket in Ogun State through the ballot box and the court process he instituted against the party flag bearer Chief Ladi Adebutu, who has been recognised as the undisputed candidate of PDP by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Ogun State,” he said.

He advised Sowunmi to direct his frustration to his alleged traducers in Ogun State, rather than look for a ‘Scapegoat’ or try to use George’s revered name as a springboard, to gain the attention of the party’s top echelon.

“Chief George’s call for justice and fairness in the PDP and Sowunmi travails in Ogun State cannot be equated, to warrant a call for the arrest of the former Deputy National Chairman, accusing him of “playing dangerous politics, What an insult! Sowunmi should rather look for other ways to please Atiku, the national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, and the Director-General of the PDP, if he nurses the desire to do so.

“It is the height of unpardonable disrespect for Sowunmi to raise his voice against a respectable Yoruba elder statesman in the calibre of Chief Olabode George. It is disdainful for him to be disrespectful to the man old enough to be Sowunmi’s father, a respectable figure, who Sowunmi’s elders won’t dare talk to disrespectfully,” he said.

According to Edwards, Sowunmi carries a moral burden as stated by the governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, who condemned Sowunmi’s continual action of parading himself as a gubernatorial candidate of the party when he did not take part in the party’s primaries.

“The PDP candidate, Adebutu, has told Sowunmi to purge himself of the illusion of becoming the PDP candidate in Ogun State as there is nothing like a factional candidate in an election because there can only be factional aspirants and a single candidate.

“While it’s not totally strange that the political landscape is getting charged with all kinds of raw emotions, jejune sentiments, deliberate vending of falsehood, half-truths, flagellation of toxic propaganda, amplification of misinformation and disinformation, all in a bid to cast aspersions on perceived enemies, we view Sowunmi’s ill-tempered disrespect for an elder statesman as a taboo,” he said.