NWODO: PDP FAILED ITS FOUNDERS

Okwesilieze Nwodo
PDP national chairman Okwesilieze Nwodo said yesterday that the ruling party has failed to meet the vision of its founders to provide good governance and sustainable democracy, pledging to work towards putting the party back on track.

At an interactive session with senior journalists in Abuja, Nwodo said the dream of the party's founding fathers was to ensure that the military never came back to power, provide food for every Nigerian and restore integrity to the political process.

But he said these dreams had not been realised and assured Nigerians that the competitiveness that was abandoned after the Jos convention of the party in 1999 for the imposition of candidates would be restored.

'We are going to bring back a crop of leadership that cares. Those who want to carry the flag of the party should go to the people to convince them that they understand and appreciate their problems.

'Aspirants would not be welcomed to the party secretariat, let them go to the people to preach their message. We place a high premium on integrity and issues that border on the wellbeing of Nigerians,' he said.

The national chairman said the PDP Institute would organise workshops to educate the party's flag bearers on its programmes and policies under the new vision.

He said the debate now would be on how to improve the well-being of Nigerians and not based on religion, ethnicity or cultural affinity.

'We want those who can change our lives positively not minding where they come from,' he said.

Nwodo promised that the party would provide the country with 'a uniting consensus leader' in the forthcoming general elections, and that its presidential flag bearer would be 'eminently qualified' for the job of administering the country.

He said that different interest groups were free to adopt whatever strategy that could help them present a credible candidate while the delegates would apply party internal mechanism to adopt a flag bearer for the polls.

On court judgments that relieved some PDP governors of their posts, Nwodo said the party believed in going into the field to win elections and not through what he called 'ambush democracy.'

'PDP wins election in the field and hearts of the people and not through ambush democracy in the law court,' he added.

On the ongoing debate to amend the Electoral Act for lawmakers to be members of party national executive committees, Nwodo said the PDP was in support of any arrangement that would bring about balance in the committee.

But he added: 'We will not support a situation whereby an arrangement that is said to favour a group is changed to one that will now favour another group. There should be equity and balance in whatever that will be introduced by the National Assembly.'

Nwodo said that the party was preparing an electoral timetable that would dovetail into the INEC timetable released on Tuesday. (NAN)