The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has owned up to many socio-economic blunders it committed when it was in power for 16 years, from 1999 to 2015 and therefore apologized to Nigerians.
National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, who apologized today, Monday, on behalf of the party at a public national discourse on “Contemporary Governance in Nigeria,” assured that under his watch, there would be no imposition of candidates or any form of impunity.
“I hereby, as the National Chairman, do admit that the PDP made a lot of mistakes; we are humans, not spirits and the ability to admit is key in moving forward. We admit that we have made several mistakes; we have passed through all our challenges and have acquired the experience no other party can boast of.
“We were sanctioned by Nigerians at the polls in 2015; let me use this opportunity to apologize for our past mistakes. It is the honest thing to do, a legacy to transfer to our children; we cannot continue like that.
“When we make mistakes, we should come out boldly to the people and apologize. It is important to do so because we have learnt from our mistakes unlike the All Progressive Congress (APC) that will make mistakes and lie to cover it.
“We apologize to Nigerians that we have made mistakes, we have learnt our lessons and we are ready to begin on a new agenda; experience is the best teacher, no other party has it,” he said.
According to Secondus, when things are not positive and the mindset is negative, it is time to reset it, adding that the public discourse is an ample opportunity for the party members to collectively “press the reset button’’ and set a new agenda for the nation.
According to him, there is too much power at the party’s National Headquarters, and going forward, power will be devolved to the wards, states and zones.
In his contribution, a chieftain of the party, Chief George Bode, said that the position of the party leadership rekindled his loyalty even as he called on members of PDP who left it as a result of its past mistakes to return home from the “wilderness’’.
According to him, to err is human and forgive is divine, it was time to walk the talk for the repositioning of the country.
One of the panelists at the event, Ms Toyosi Ogunshiji, commended the party for toeing the line of honour, adding that Nigeria must move from praying to taking more serious actions for the progress of the country.
Ogunshiji said that the country needed statesmen “who think about the people and not politicians who think about the next elections’’.
According to her, Nigerians only voted against President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 and did not necessarily vote for President Muhammadu Buhari.
She said that the electorate who would be seen in the 2019 general elections would be different from those politicians had seen in the past.
Source: NAN. [myad]
