By Uzoma Akobundu
Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Reconciliation Committee and Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson has told the party leadership that they must lead a coalition to sack the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2019.
Dickson made the comment while presenting the report of his committee to the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus in Abuja on Thursday.
Dickson commended the Secondus-led PDP for service to the party and commitment to building a viral party and said ‘‘we will not stop serving until we salvage our country.’’
A press statement signed by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Francis Agbo, said his principal is the longest serving Chairman of the committee having served in that capacity since the days of Bamanga Tukur, as PDP chairman.
Agbo said: “Even before the convention, his committee had swung into action, formulating the template and laying the foundation for the work of the committee. After the convention, his committee crisscrossed the nation and interacted with leaders and critical stakeholders of the party, who also raised some concerns that were captured in the report.”
Dickson said the mammoth crowd that greeted the recent Jigawa PDP rally was a signpost of a quit notice for APC, adding that the committee recommended that, the PDP returns the party to the people, constitute all its standing committees, carve responsibilities for women and youths, give a sense of belonging to the South West leaders in the party, woo those who had left the PDP to return to its fold and above all, lead a coalition of all other parties to win more states and form the government at the centre
He said: ‘‘PDP National Working Committee and its leaders must be temperate, not join issues with ourselves and even those who have left the party. The manifest destiny of PDP is to lead a broad-based coalition to sack APC and to achieve this, everybody is important and must be brought on board, because the umbrella is large enough for all.
‘‘The National Working Committee of our great party should constitute all statutory committees urgently and in the composition, women, youths and leaders should be involved in the committees. The South West is too strategic not to play a strategic role in PDP. We recommend closer interaction with the leaders of the South West to build confidence in the region.
‘‘We believe the National Convention has come and gone but we recommend that the party deliberately create positions for women in PDP because the party is the most women and youth –friendly. Mr. Chairman if we do this, it will reassure our women and youths that they are the future of our party.
“There is no party as democratic as the PDP in Nigeria, but I must concede that, we are not where we should be, but by deepening internal democracy and returning the party to the Nigerian people, the party will regain its pride of place and wrest power from the APC. “
Secondus thanked Dickson and his committee for doing a wonderful work and pledged to implement all the recommendations of the committee.
Secondus said: “The APC-led Federal Government is broken. The APC has so disunited our people and Nigerians no longer trust it. Only the PDP rekindles hope; the party represents the labour of our heroes past; only PDP can secure and keep this country united. That is why our emphasis is on returning the party to Nigerians, especially women and youths and I want to seize this opportunity to call on all Nigerians including those who have left us to return to the party.
‘‘PDP belongs to all Nigerians and our party is the only party that is not owned by an individual or a cabal. We shall provide level-playing field for all aspirants to actualise their ambitions unhindered.
‘‘We are ready to bend backward to accommodate everybody including those who have left us. The PDP is ready for a robust arrangement to lead other political parties to form government at all levels to banish hunger, insecurity, nepotism and clannishness from Nigeria!
“The 2019 general election is a referendum on the survival of the country. APC and INEC will try to rig but they cannot succeed. Nigerians will resist them.’’
Secondus later inaugurated the Dickson-led Committee as a standing committee.