PDP will be remodelled after ANC, says Mu’azu

THE national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said yesterday that the party was being re-organised to attain the status of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa.

The National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Ahmad Adamu Mu’azu, who dropped the hint while stressing the virtues  of grass-root politics and internal democracy to party leaders who paid him solidarity visits from Delta and Kogi states at the party secretariat in Abuja, ruled out the imposition of candidates during the forthcoming primary election of the PDP.

Mu’azu said the PDP leadership would review the problems of the party with a view to finding a sustainable solution.

“Our dream is to organise the party in such a way as to make it attain the status of the ANC in South Africa. We know our party has lost some ground, we must assess ourselves, we must mark ourselves, we must be true to ourselves, we must be sincere to ourselves nationwide and find out what is wrong.

“Our constitution is right, our manifesto is right, we will improve on it. Where have we lost ground and why have we gained ground?

  “With absolute co-operation and collaboration with you, with prayers that you and others are doing for our party and me, I have no doubt we are going to regain our ground very soon,” he said.

On the determination of PDP to eradicate the culture of candidates’ imposition, Mu’azu said: “PDP ticket belongs to God and to the people. If you want to be governor, there is nothing wrong. Even a dead man has ambition of going to heaven. So, an un-ambitious person is not worth living. So, aspire but be fair in your aspiration.

 “Since power belongs to God and since God gave power to the people on earth, you must go and see them. I hate to hear when somebody says to me ‘oh, am on ground’. Which ground?

 “Under my leadership by the grace of God and the National Working Committee, Insha Allah, by God’s grace, those of you who want to just sit down on my laps or on the lap of the President or governors hoping to secure party tickets will never be there. If a governor loves you, you should go and campaign, ensure that the party is strengthened, ensure that the people know and love our party. Tell them who we are and tell them what the party has for them,” Mua’zu declared.

The party chairman also appealed to those who left the party to return. He said: “I want to use this opportunity and medium today to appeal to those members of our party who have decided to leave for a journey to unknown destination, to a strange land where they will never be accepted as home, this is your home. Come back home, our doors are wider.”

 Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State who led his state delegation urged Mua’zu to continue his peace-making efforts and ensure that aggrieved members of the party were reached. He added that the PDP in Delta State was united because the people of the state had seen a reason to embrace it.

  He stressed that though the party had challenges in the past, the emergence of Mu’azu as its national chairman had made great impact on its rebuilding. He also said that Delta was solidly behind President Goodluck Jonathan and called on all Nigerians to continue to support him despite challenges.He added that the Delta State government was making marks with its three-point agenda in all aspects of the economy.

  According to him, though the state is oil-producing, it is looking beyond this mineral resource as the means of sustaining its economy.This, according to him, was the reason the state government was diversifying to other areas such as agriculture.

  In his own remarks, Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State said Mu’azu’s efforts at reconciling aggrieved members of the party were already yielding results, adding that the development   would help the party gain lost ground.

Guardian