Bode George behind my travails over murder of PDP chieftain, says Salvador

Chairman, Lagos State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Honourable Moshood Salvador, has accused former deputy national chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, of being behind his travails over the alleged murder of a chieftain and former chairman of PDP in Apapa Local Government, Mr Adeniyi Aborishade.

Aborishade lost his life in July following the crisis that erupted at the rally held by the party in Eti- Osa area of the state.

Salvador made this accusation while addressing a teeming members of the party in Maryland area of the state on Thursday, alleging that Chief George and his supporters cooked up the story that he was responsible for the killing of the party chieftain.

But a very close source to George, who did not want his name in the print, said Salvador was a “deluded dreamer,” to have blamed his travails on the former PDP deputy national chairman.

“He must be a deluded dreamer,” querying: “Was Bode George at the venue of the incident, was he the one that took tugs to the venue where the killing took place?”

He, however, said the police was still investigating the matter, expressing the belief that they would eventually come out with their report.

According to Salvador, who had since been discharged by the court after being arraigned on the murder charge, George and others had cooked up the story that he was behind the killing, whereas pieces of evidence, including video recording, finally exonerated him.

“They want to be the de facto leaders. I will work hard to put our people in public offices to stop us from suffering,” he declared.

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Recalling how the incident that led to the death of Aborishade occurred, Lagos PDP chairman, who said his exco led party had resolved to visitations to local governments in the state with the sole aim of recruiting more members for the party, stated that already 13 councils, including Epe and Ibeju Lekki local governments had been covered only for the team led by him to be attacked at Eti-Osa Local Government that fateful day.

This was just as he maintained that the elders and caucus committees he inaugurated in each of the councils visited were inconsistent with the constitution of the party, alleging that  Chief George went ahead to “duplicate the committees in his house.”

“The security was tight in the first two local governments we visited, but trouble started when we got to Eti-Osa Local Government. The party chairman there threw the table away and crisis started.

“I was rushed into my car and we later heard that Aborishade was killed. I had left the premises before the killing.

“They cooked up the story that I was behind the killing. However, everything was recorded by video cameras there.

“The Police, the Department of State Security (DSS) and the military did their investigations. They put all the shreds of evidence together and stopped my prosecution in the court,” he said.

“Let it be a thing of the past so that we can move forward. I decided not to speak to the press on the matter until today. I want to thank the media for their support, while I was in detention. They did their job the way it should be done through investigative journalism,” Salvador added.

Speaking further, the party chieftain said his interest was to make PDP a winning party in Lagos, come 2019, saying that it was based on that resolve that his leadership had to take “PDP Assembly,” a forum for gathering of members outside the party secretariat in Sogunle to Oregun, Alausa area of the state where about 40,00 members were in attendance at each of the gatherings.

“We did the first and second assemblies in Oregun and about 40,00 members were in attendance in each gathering. We were doing the assemblies in Oregun because our party secretariat could not accommodate more than 1,000 people.

“Each assembly cost me about N10million and I spend about N3million on the party monthly. If you are an aspirant, don’t give me any money, use your money to organise the people,” he said.

“What I want is the success of the party at the polls. I want to win Lagos for the PDP in my time,” Salvador declared, even as he lamented: “You can imagine that we lost seven out of eight members of the PDP in the State House of Assembly to the All Progressives  Congress (APC) last year and yet these people are not moved.”