AS the race for the office of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic, PDP, a onetime Deputy Senate President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu on Wednesday canvassed for the total support of the members of the Party for the Professor Tunde Adeniran in his bid to the Office at the Forthcoming National Convention of the party.
The former Deputy President of the Senate made plea in Abuja yesterday while speaking that the formal declaration of Prof Adeniran of his interest in Mantu who spoke philosophically said that for the former Minister of Education was premised on his conviction that “Adeniran is God’s choice for the exalted office in the Party”
The PDP pointed out that he consulted God in fasting and prayer for 30days seeking the input of the creator on who should emerge the national chairman of the PDP.
According to him,” I fasted for 30 days and 30 nights, asking God to show me who would lead the party. God showed me Adeniran
“Let’s now look forward and make sure that we elect a credible chairman. We should make sure that nobody short-changes us at the national convention.
The ex-lawmaker whose remarks elicited laughter amongst the attendees also urged Nigerians to take every utterance of his henceforth as the truth, stating that he has become a “born again” politician.
According to him, “II am now born again. Whatever I say now is the truth. Some people came to the PDP with nothing and left with billions. We need to bring the party to the people now
“It has also become necessary for the PDP to be sober and apologize for what we have done wrong in the past.”
On his own, Professor Adeniran, declared the forthcoming National convention “is an opportunity for the PDP to bounce back to powers, stressing however, that doing so requires reconciliation, unity and a rebuilding process.
While soliciting for massive support across the six-geo-political zones, Adeniran, a former Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, pledged to work tirelessly to “reaffirm and entrench the founding principles of our great party; restore the sanctity of internal democracy and rule of law and return the party to the people in tandem with the spirit and intent of its slogan-Power to the people.”
Prof Adeniran who spoke extensively on how the party was formed in determination to put end the military misrule in the country and the eventual victory of the Party which ruled for sixteen years with dividends of democracy to Nigerians lamented how the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, had turned everything upside down
He however assured that if elected as the National chairman of the PDP, he would the Party to victory and returned power at the Centre Come 2019
Also speaking at the event was a former Minister of Police Affairs, Adamu Maina Waziri who lauded the leadership qualities of Adeniran and tasked the party to stand by him. Waziri said in good and bad times, the chairmanship aspirant has proven to be a loyal party man since the formation of the PDP in 1998.
“Since we were given flags to establish the party in our various States in 1998, Professor Adeniran has not wavered. We want to open a new chapter, where democracy will flourish, where the choice of the people will determine who leads them,” Waziri stated, urging the party faithful not to forget that the road to the Presidential villa is not an easy one.
In his remarks, Ambassador Yemi Farounbi stated that Prof Adeniran as one of the founding fathers of the Party possessed all it takes to lead the Party to victory again in 2019 based on his past records