PDP.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Anambra, said is putting its house in order in the State, ahead of the 2019 general election. The leaders of the party have woken up to the reality that the division cannot win power unless they fuse together as a united group.
The party Zonal chairman, Mr. Austin Umahi, the State Party Chairman,Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu, the members of the State Executives and party elders have reminded the party faithful that only a united front can confront the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) who is the ruling party in the State and effect power shift come 2019.
In the last ten years, the PDP has taken a back seat in Anambra politics. Apart from APGA, the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is waxing stronger than the PDP. Nothing attests more graphically to the declining electoral fortunes of the party than the last November 18, governorship election. The PDP came a distant third. It was a shocking defeat, considering the political heavyweights who are members of the party.
The reason was not farfetched. Besides taking the electorate for granted, the party chieftains played the politics of bitterness such that the unwritten code of “if not me, then, it should never be you” was evident at the end of the election. Party stalwarts had worked against the oneness of the party.
However, party leaders appear to have woken up from their slumber. At the Onitsha mega rally for the past governorship poll, they spoke passionately about the need for the party to forge a united front, reconcile all factions and work together to avoid 2019 defeat.
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Nwobu, said with the reconciliation committee of the party headed by Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson who set the tone for the party unity, the days of imposition of candidates were over in the party. He said that the Party National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus has given the assurance that he would not allow the imposition of a candidate during the electioneering. He urged any contester to go to their respective wards and gird their loins. He noted that the true custodians of power are those at the grassroots, who also have the right to choose the candidates of their interest.
“We are here to start anew. We all know what happened in the last governorship election. We don’t want to be sidelined again this time. It is now almost ten years that we have been out of power in the state. It is not that we do not have the calibre of people to lead the state; not that we do not have the material or means to campaign, but we frittered away the opportunity because of disunity, internal wrangling and fictionalization, he said.
To make good the plan to unite all factions in the state chapter, a Peace, Reconciliation Committee has been set up headed by Hon. Austin Umahi, the South-east PDP zonal chairman with a free hand to reconcile and enlarge its membership, if that would help it achieve its objectives.
The Committee’s first duty in the State if given attention by the National exco, he said is to register and re-issue a new party card to strong men and women of PDP in the State, like Senator Andy Uba, Senator Stella Oduah, Chief Chris Uba, Pof. ABC Nwosu and the formal national grand patrons of the party, Prince Arthur Eze.
The State chairman decried the division within the party and expressed hope that the committee will return the party to victory. He also canvassed support for Gov. Dickson committee, saying it has the capacity to foster peace and cohesion if it is given the support it needs. But the question is how far can the Dickson-led reconciliation committee sustain the unity anthem it has begun? For a party that has so many factions across the six geopolitical zones. The PDP has a big opportunity of reviving its political structure in the state at a time the APGA is in a war of attrition in APGA. But now has the hurdle to cross because the task ahead is herculean.
APC
The All Progressive Congress (APC) is not relenting in its efforts to win the next senatorial, house of reps and state house of assembly election in the state. The party boasts of people like Senator Chris Ngige who the current Minister Labour and Productivity, Annie Okonkwo, Sen. Uche Ekwuinife and Sen. Andy Uba who are great political warriors both in State and Federal.
The state chairman, Barr. Dennis Emeka Ibeh said the APC National reconciliation committee headed by it party National Leader and the former Lagos State Governor, Sen. Ahmed Bola Tinubu would help bring back aggrieved members who are in one way or the offended to the fold before the 2019 general election. Ibeh told our correspondent that part of the responsibility of the committee in Anambra chapter if properly handled by the National executives, it would help consult and jaw-jaw with all those who contested in the Nov.18 2017 Governorship party’s primary elections stressing that nobody would be left behind in the scheme of things. The chairman emphasized that the party would support the committee to enable it to realise its 2019 mandates across the board.
In his reaction to the appointment of Ahamed Tinubu as the chairman of the reconciliation committee, the former Deputy Candidate of the party on the just concluded Gubernatorial election, Chief Dozie Ikedife (Jnr) expressed the determination of the committee to meet the expectations of party members while urging members of the committee to brace up for the task ahead.
He urged the committee to traverse the six geopolitical zones of the country in the exercise of its obligations. And that the committee should also dialogue with stakeholders of the party with a view to calming frayed nerves in the party as well as ensuring a peaceful resolution of differences.
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