Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George has dissociated himself from the grievances of former Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, Sure-P employees describing the publication that linked him with their grievances as outrageous, cruel and outrightly libelous.
Speaking with journalists, George said ‘“it is a wild thrashing in the wind, a desperate grasping for scapegoat. But this idiocy will never work”.
It would be recalled that workers of the SureP/FERMA Federal Task Force protested against an alleged fraudulent extortion of money from them by the some executives of the programme.
The workers allegedly mentioned their National co-ordinator, Alhaji Abdurazak Rafiu , Chief Bode George , Senator Ogunlewe and others as the ones that extorted money from them. George however told journalists that he did not authorize, employ or mobilize anyone as Sure-P workers and that he never at any particular time encouraged anyone to levy anybody or extort any party member under the guise of dubious employment scheme.
He said that in some warped and disturbed minds whatever aches the Lagos State PDP must somehow be the making of Chief Bode George saying that, “ he is at no time the general superintendent of the PDP but merely a guide, an avuncular stabilizing presence amid the ebb and flow of politics”.
George said “ Chief Bode George continues to spend his hard-earned resources to assist all and sundry who need support . He never asks for recompense save for the grace of Heaven.
“At the height of the electioneering period all kinds of groups, clubs, gatherings and innumerable association often emerge , with each making all kinds of claims and clamouring for partisan advantages . To deceive and suborn the unwary, many of these groups often invoke ties to party leadership that never exist.
“Whenever the party leadership is informed of any dubious engagement among these groups we immediately refer the matter to the law enforcement agencies”, George said.
He further said that, when it was reported to the party leaders that some people were being recruited into a Sure-P employment scheme in Lagos, “we responded promptly that the outfit is illegal and without government approval”.
“We encouraged various disclaimers in the newspapers by the legitimate Sure- P in Abuja to put the matter to rest”, he said. “To help our young men and women who were unemployed, we arranged a strategic partnership with FIIRO at Oshodi for a federal government skill acquisition scheme.
The participants pay directly to FIIRO for the programme. We invited gentlemen of the press to interact with the participants of the programme after they had successfully completed the project.
The various graduates of the FIIRO scheme are now self employed and are presently contributing meaningfully to our society. “This is basically the kind of civic intervention we engage in.
The PDP is not an employment agency and we never encourage extortion of any kind. If anyone has been conned by unscrupulous elements, we advise that the real culprits should be brought before the law swiftly for justice to be served”.
National Mirror.
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