By DAPO AKINREFON

While incarcerated at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons, Lagos, former chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bigwig, Chief Bode Ibiyinka George, held  sway in the Lagos State chapter of the party.

From behind the four walls of the prisons where he just finished serving a two-year jail term, he continued to dictate the tune to be played by leaders and members of the party.

Bode George, who was sentenced alongside five former members of the NPA board, reportedly established a political machinery from behind the prison walls with which he controlled the  affairs of the Lagos PDP.

Signs of his hold on the state chapter of the party  came to the fore during the governorship primary where his preferred  candidate and former Director-General of the Nigeria Institute of Maritime Agency and Safety Authority (NIMASA), Dr. Adegboyega Dosumu, emerged the  winner, beating other  contenders to clinch the ticket of the party to contest the election in April.

Much against popular expectation, Dosumu floored the other PDP aspirants, including Mr. Femi Pedro, former deputy governor of Lagos State; the former minister of state for defence, Chief Demola Seriki; Mr. Tokunbo Kamson and Mr. Owolabi Salis.

Prior to the primaries, it was gathered that politicians from the fold turned the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons to a home of sorts to curry one political favour or another from the former military governor of the old  Ondo State and erstwhile deputy national chairman of PDP.

It was an open secret that BG, as he is fondly called,  backed the candidacy of his ‘political son’ Dosumu, for the Lagos PDP gubernatorial race and made contacts  with other party bigwigs to sway them to support his anointed candidate.

But this action did not go down well with some leaders and elders of PDP in the state, who felt his looming image was not helping the party.

But, without BG’s presence in the politics of Lagos, most members of the party in the state were not  able to find their feet. This was as a result of the factionalisation within the fold, which many attributed  to the efforts by a  few people to control the party machinery.

Also, a source told Sunday Vanguard that his (George’s) absence left some members with low morale as there was no father figure  to mobilise and inspire them.

But, expressing a contrary view, another party member, who pleaded anonymity, argued that he (George) was responsible for the parlous state of the Lagos PDP. The source also lamented that George had left the party more divided than ever. The source was quick to add that most of the party leaders and, perhaps, members will not be disposed to his return.

To the ruling party in Lagos, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Bode George’s absence afforded it the opportunity to whittle down the strength of the opposition.

But, rising to the defence of his boss, PDP National Vice-Chairman (South-West),  Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, when asked how George’s influence ensured the emergence of Dosumu, queried that whether  Bode George was in prison or not, ”is he not a member of PDP? Has he no right to influence decisions in the party?”

He said those who put Bode George in jail may not know that he was as important as when he had not entered prison. ”A Bode George remains a formidable force and a leader in our party today. So, if he influenced the victory of our candidate, there is nothing wrong with that.”

For the likes of the Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, however, the absence of Bode George meant little or nothing to him.

In 2007, Obanikoro battled against all odds to emerge the PDP gubernatorial  flag bearer in the state  but lost out during the election proper when he contested against Gov. Fashola.

He was thereafter appointed the envoy to Ghana, but still holds sway back home in Lagos.

The former chairman of Lagos Island Local Government decided not to toy with the idea of vying for any elective office, after the 2007 gubernatorial misadventure.

Obanikoro is not in the good books of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Bode George as he moved against them after losing his bid to be appointed a minister after the 2007 polls.

Though he has since mellowed down, many still see him as a force to be reckoned with as far as the Lagos PDP is concerned.

Another  top-notch of the party, who recently lost his bid to emerge Lagos gubernatorial candidate, Demola Seriki, is  also not at ease with his former leader. Until recently, he was a minister in the cabinet of the late President Umaru Yar-Adua. He also contested election to represent the Lagos West Senatorial District in the National Assembly which he lost on the platform of PDP.

Soon after the dissolution of the cabinet under Yar-Adua by President Goodluck Jonathan, Seriki jetted out of the country to think of his next line of action. He was said to have once been in the good books of BG, but later fell out with him (George) over his refusal to step down for his candidate (Dosumu).