The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus, on Thursday, in Abuja threw a jibe at the All Progressives Congress, saying that the party had become a lame duck.
This came after former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari warning him against seeking re-election.
He said Obasanjo’s statement has also exposed the corruption and nepotism in the Buhari administration.
Secondus spoke when he and members of the party National Working Committee met with former ministers who served under the PDP regime in Abuja.
He also tasked the former ministers to mobilise their constituents ahead of the 2019 elections, saying that was an opportunity for PDP to get back to power.
He said, “The NWC is also putting all the necessary strategies together, and we assure you that come 2019, Nigerians will vote for PDP. APC has failed woefully.
“Our nation is in a situation where PDP must save this nation from total collapse. The government of APC and the APC itself have become a lame duck after former President Obasanjo released a political tsunami and verdict on the government.
“His letter chronicled happenings in the government and the country. It is red card for this ineptitude government and we all support Obasanjo’s position.
“Those of you who are interested to vie for one office or the other, we want to assure you that our doors are very open.
“The best way to go from where we found ourselves today is to make sure that we conduct very transparent elections, be it the congresses or the primaries.
“I want to assure that the old system of imposition or any other thing that will go contrary to our constitution will be far off from the NWC members, we will not go that way.
“We will go strictly and abide by our constitution and our rules. That is the promise of the NWC. Our laws must be obeyed, our rules must be obeyed, we must follow them in order to restore confidence to our people.”
Secondus disclosed that the party would also devolve power, “because, over the years, so much powers have been concentrated at the centre.”
He also said, “And we discovered that the only way to do it is to devolve power to the grassroots. And our slogan explained it all, power to the people. So the people at home can decide, not the people in Abuja or NWC.
“Let the people at the various constituents and states decide who will represent them, it will make the election easy for us.”
The Chairman said that the NWC was also putting the necessary strategies together, and “will we assure that come 2019, that Nigerians will vote for PDP. APC has failed woefully.”
Responding, the Chairman of former Ministers Forum who was a former Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki (SAN), said that with the kind of leaders the party has, “the war to bring back what rightly belongs to us has started.
“We said it that there are only two political parties, PDP and the rest. Even the ones that people thought were political parties, people have realised that they are mere associations and clubs that have come together, wreaking havoc on our democracy. Nigerians have seen them for what they are.
“I want to call on you to open your doors very wide because all those that are real politicians, all those that are Democrats will come back home and we are ready for them.
“As you begin your crusade of saving democracy in Nigeria, crusade of saving Nigeria from hunger, from poverty, from insecurity, from hopelessness and joblessness, it should be at the back of your mind that the colossal knowledge, experience and technical know-how at the disposal of the former ministers is there for you to tap.”
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