Politicians, Relations Desert Bode George’s Home

Adelowo Oladipo, Lagos - 07.11.2009

Barely 13 days after the imprisonment of Chief Olabode George, an erstwhile deputy national chairman, South-West zone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Maximum Security Prison, Kirikiri, Apapa, Lagos, by Mr. Justice Joseph Oyewole of the state’s high court, the private residence of the politician, located at the Tumble Junction, Off Gerald Road, Ikoyi, has been deserted by his relations, friends and political associates.

A visit by Saturday Tribune to the white house, where the PDP chieftain had played host to the high and mighty in the society, who usually thronged his home to solicit one assistance or the other, revealed that except for the presence of his security guard identified as Abdullah, the place is almost deserted.

During the visit, it was discovered that the road leading to George’s house was particularly in a bad shape to the extent that some of the security guards on the street, numbering about five, including Abdullah, were seen harvesting cat fish from the muddy water in drainages directly opposite the chief’s residence.

The security guards, who look after some of the residential buildings in the neighbourhood, were seen putting the hoard of cat fish in a metallic bucket stationed on the road, where some quantity surveyors were also seen measuring some parts of the road, side by side with the guards who were enjoying the fun of fishing on the roadside in broad daylight.

However, when this reporter approached some of the guards and the surveyors for a chat on the absence of the former chairman of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA)on the street since his incarceration at the Maximum Security Prison, Kirikiri, Apapa, Lagos State, they rebuffed the reporter, saying they did not know what he was talking about.

But a resident, who begged not to be quoted, said that except for the occasional visits of the personal driver of the chief in company of an escort, he had not noticed if anyone had been occupying the house, since the beginning of the politican’s travails .

The source, however, said that he could not place the politician as generous or not because he had never had personal contact with the chief, adding that he did not miss his absence in the street, nor those of the politician’s teeming visitors.