Our dear leader, we welcome you back to our cess pitt of corruption. Come and cover us with the anti-graft umbrella you bought back from Kirikiri. E kaabo sir. No shaking! Forward march to 2015!
—Bode George Movement (BGM)
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Chief Bode George released from prison: Photograph by Kehinde Gbadamosi
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftain, Bode George and five others were released from Kirikiri Maximum Prison yesterday, after a two-year jail term. The former Military Governor was convicted of 'abuse of office and award of about N100bn contracts without due process', while he was the Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority.
George was welcomed by thousands of supporters including the PDP, with pomp and pageantry. He was then whisked away to a thanksgiving church service with people in high places. Philosophically, he told newsmen including The Nation, “Now I have just graduated from the University of Life and it is very interesting and educating. I have collected the certificate from the University of Life.”
The glaring message that the PDP put across to the masses was clear; that there is nothing wrong in being sentenced to prison, as long as you don’t die in prison, you can come back and continue with the same crooked lifestyle. George should have retreated to his home or church with members of his family in a sombre mood; in order to show that he had moved on with his life in a more composed manner.
Well, that was just a tip of the iceberg compared with the laughable content of a newspaper advertisement by the Bode George Movement (BGM). According to the BGM in the Saturday Vanguard of 26 February 2011, page 22:
… Even though he was jailed for the criminal offence of corruption, we fervently believe that our great leader is a man of honour, probity and integrity. In any case, who in Nigeria has the moral authority to accuse any other person of corruption? Are we not all corrupt? We are amazed that so much fuss was made over the peanuts our mentor allegedly embezzled at the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) in a country where people routinely steal billions of Naira.
The fact is that not all Nigerians are corrupt and the BGM has shown that it is a group of corrupt sycophants by saying, “Even if our esteemed leader enriched himself corruptly for which he was convicted, he did it on our behalf and for our benefit”. Is Bode George a robber like Robin Hood who stole from the rich to feed the poor or a billionaire and embezzler, that looted the treasury to feed a microscopic few aka BGM?
BGM compared its leader with former President Olusegun Obasanjo who was imprisoned before he became a civilian president and prophesied that George will become a president one day. Such prophesy is a fallacy of the highest order. The group is confident that George will join President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign team.
Instead of “E kaabo sir. No shaking!…” (Meaning: welcome sir, there’s no problem). The BGM should have said in Yoruba, “E kaabo sir, Baba wa, Ogbologbo ole, se da da le de?” (Meaning: welcome sir, our fatherly leader, the great thief, did you come back alright?) By George! 😮
Supporters of Bode George in action with PDP flags
By mere coincidence, Ewonbode satirically means ex-convict in Yoruba. On 17 December 2010, an online commentator (name unverified) suggested the following name(s), for the former Very Important Prisoner: Ewonbode Ewonyinka George with the Pass Prison School (PPS) award.
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