APC has failed, PDP coming to take over ―Jonathan, Atiku, Makarfi, others

FORMER President Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee (NCC), Senator Ahmed Makarfi were among leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who on Saturday wrote off the performance of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressive Congress (APC) with assurances that the PDP former ruling party will regain power in 2019.

Addressing delegates to the national convention of the party at Eagle Square in Abuja, they were also unanimous on the need for party unity to enable the former ruling party to oust the APC in the presidential election.

Jonathan told members of the PDP who may still be facing what he termed “persecution” in the hands of government that it will expire soon, confident that party would regain lost grounds in the 2019 election.

He said: “Let me encourage those who are still passing through persecution that the persecution will expire one day, that they should remain strong and we will surely get this thing.”

The former president assured that following the party’s loss of power and the ensuing internal crisis, it has regained enough composure to be in a strong position for the contestation for power.

He advised against delegates leaving the convention ground aggrieved but rather that they should to take the message of party unity and impending victory back to their wards.

Jonathan observed that those who wrote of the PDP have been proved wrong as the party had rebounded while members who defected from the PDP are now finding their ways back to its fold.

He assured that the party has remained the only stable political party in the country which had not altered its identity since inception, saying that it is a party which never fails as it promises only what it can deliver.

Jonathan added: “As Nigeria’s foremost and largest political party, I believe that the PDP will remain at the forefront of leadership by example and I urge all members to remain committed, and to be prepared to work for the interest of our party and the country.

“Over the years, PDP has remained focused and resilient in building a strong democratic culture, despite the challenges we had faced. We have struggled to steady the ship and have regained enough composure to effectively become a strong voice of opposition, and resume the contest to return to office.

“There is no doubt that the PDP has again become the reference point as the nation moves close to another election season. Even those who had earlier written us off, can now attest to the fact that we have become resolute in growing our spread and strength. Many who left are already returning to our fold. Like a loving father, PDP is welcoming them all back with open arms.

“We are one family, and what we feel is that satisfying sensation and renewed trust that follow family reunions. We should not forget that ours is a party with an enviable history and good records. Democracy is built on a tradition of established parties and principles.

“We have given Nigeria’s democracy a good push because we have been consistent in standing on our grounds and upholding our name, for almost two decades. We have never changed our name or our identity since the return of democracy in 1999.

“We should always celebrate the fact that the PDP introduced key policies that improved governance, enhanced welfare, boosted and stabilized the economy of our great country, and above all, gave our people hope.”

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who said he was glad to be back home in PDP, was of the view that the APC had failed to keep its promises to Nigerians, noting therefore the PDP must unite to seize power in 2019.

He observed: “Now we must unite as a party to secure the trust of the Nigerian people again because under the APC Nigeria is not working and our people are not working.

“Let us consider what the APC has achieved versus what they promised at election time: The APC promised us three million new jobs a year; in Government the APC has lost us three million jobs a year; the APC promised us peace and unity and under the APC Nigeria is now more divided and acrimonious than at any time since the civil war

“The APC promised us restructuring. In office the APC denied restructuring and the APC promised a war on corruption but all they have delivered is a war on the opposition, with handouts for their cronies and handcuffs for their opponents.”

Atiku drew comparison between what the PDP achieved in government and what the APC is doing, saying: “We, the PDP, achieved a 10-year increase in the life expectancy of our people; we, the PDP, enabled 99 million more of our people to have a mobile phone; we, the PDP helped Nigeria become the largest economy in Africa.

“As members of the PDP, we all have a lot to be proud of. In the 16 years that we governed this nation we kept it united, peaceful and prosperous. We made mistakes, but we put our nation first.

“We did not favour only states that voted for us and punish those that did not. We favoured all. And we also know that 5% and 97% do not add up to 100%.

“We now have an APC government, which continues to blame previous governments and scapegoat people rather than solve problems it was elected to solve.”

Atiku spoke of the many things the PDP would do when it returns to power at the centre including restructuring, free enterprise, ensuring property rights, among others, noting that the PDP “must be the party that is the hope of the common man for the common good of the commonwealth of Nigeria

“We, the PDP, must be the party that takes power from the centre and puts it firmly in the hands of the Nigerian people,” he stated.

In his opening remarks, NCC Chairman, Makarfi said the Buhari government appears unaware that Nigerians are hungry “as poverty is ravaging the land.”

He recalled how plentiful food commodities were under the PDP government.

Makarfi similarly noted that insecurity in the north east which had receded, had returned in a more ferocious way while kidnapping and other crimes have assumed a life of their own.

The party boss therefore wants the government to sit up and meet its obligations to the people.

He said: “It is therefore with a high sense of responsibility that I seize this opportunity to draw the attention of the government, for, it seems unaware, to the fact that Nigerians are hungry as poverty is ravaging the land.

“The relative ease with which foodstuff and other essentials were available and affordable to the average Nigerian under PDP governments is now history.

“Insecurity in the North East which was thought to be receding is creeping back with greater ferocity, particularly against soft targets. Kidnap for ransom has taken a life of its own, so are the incessant farmers/herdsmen clashes and criminalities so camouflaged. Government must up the ante in its efforts to confront these menaces.

“Joblessness has never been at such high levels in the history of this country, while the education sector is all but comatose.”

Makarfi maintained that the PDP recognizes the enormity of the challenges of governance, causing the NCC to apply decorum to its opposition approach to government unlike what the APC did while in opposition.

He added: “Fellow delegates, having being at the helm of affairs of this country from 1999 to 2015, the PDP has a fair idea of the enormity of the challenges of governance.

“This has been why throughout the period that our stewardship lasted, the Care Taker Committee tried to tailor the party’s new role of opposition along the path of decorum and sense of responsibility.

“This was borne out of our appreciation of the challenges as well as our belief that we have to have a functional country to even be in a position to oppose.

“This, you would agree with me is quite at variance with the type of opposition the then opposition elements subjected our governments to pre 2015.

“We have refused to pay them back in the same coin because we love this country and cannot, in fact will not in the name of wanting to wrest power, go to the extent of attempting to bring down the roof.

“Vibrant, but decent and patriotic opposition is what is required to develop and mature our democracy, not mindless propaganda that transmits the wrong signals to the world.”

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, also scored the APC-led administration low on security, economy, job creation, and national unity.

He described the 16 years that PDP was in power as glorious years for the country, noting that “good men and women who left PDP for the APC are eager to return to join us to build a better Nigeria”.

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He said: “the PDP worked out Nigeria’s debt forgiveness and paid up our remaining debts, but today, we are getting indebted more than any other time in the history of Nigeria.

“We groomed and bequeathed the fastest growing economy as well as the largest economy in Africa. The story is different today”.

The Senator also maintained that whereas the PDP years saw to job creation and improvement in agriculture and consequent low food prices, Nigerians have lived under dire realities of insecurity, unemployment, and hunger.

He said: “Millions of our people, who lost their jobs in the last two years and those who struggled through higher institutions of learning to receive education, but could not find jobs in the last two years, but who believe that when PDP returns, there will be hope for them.

“Our brothers and sisters from the North East, who were liberated by the PDP government, but who are now suffering under attacks and threats by Boko Haram believe that they will be safe when PDP returns to power.

“Our people, who are struggling everyday to leave Nigeria to the so-called Eldorado in Europe, but who either end up in the Mediterranean or trapped in Libya and other places because of the hardship in Nigeria believe that this convention will mark the beginning of the end of their problems, as they see hope for Nigeria in 2019”.

He decried the level of disunity in the country today unlike in the PDP years, which, he said “showed Nigerians, in true sense of it, that we belong to everybody”.

“Former leaders of the nation are worried about the disunity in our country want to see a PDP government that will reunite all of us once more.

“In 16 years, we saw justice done to the people of South West of Nigeria when they were deprived the presidency. The PDP provided them with the platform to be part of this country when they made one of their sons, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo the president of Nigeria.

“PDP, within the 16 years, showed the minorities in Nigeria that they are part of us when the party gave one of their own, Dr. Goddluck Jonathan, a platform to be elected the President of Nigeria.

“PDP gave amnesty to those struggling in the creeks and oil production continued because we applied dialogue instead of force and confrontation. Today, the beneficiaries of that amnesty are doing well in different sectors” he added.

Ekweremadu stressed that Nigerians had witnessed darkness in the past two years, but were now eager to see the light again under the PDP.

He, therefore, urged delegates to elect good and competent party faithful as leaders to fulfill the high expectations of Nigerians who now looked up to the PDP for recovery from 2019.

David Olagunju