“Survival of Nigeria’s democracy tied to survival of PDP” — PDP BoT
Senator Adolphus Wagbara, the Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees has emphasized that the PDP’s survival is crucial for Nigeria’s democracy to thrive.
He pointed out that the PDP is well aware of the ruling APC-led government’s desperate attempts to establish a one-party system in Nigeria.
Wabara expressed PDP’s preparedness to lead Nigerians to frustrate the APC plot.
The PDP BoT Chairman said this in his opening remarks at the just concluded BoT meeting of the party, held at the PDP National Secretariat .
Wabara charged party leaders and members to brace up for the challenges ahead because the party is in the process of repositioning itself for optimism performance.
He said, “A lot has happened, a lot is happening, the state of the party we all know and this is the time to hit the ground running since all the judgements have all come and gone.
“Our role as members of the Board of Trustee, the main organ of this party, is to ensure that this party did not die.
“ If PDP goes under, definitely democracy will go under in Nigeria. We know that there are plans to turn this country into a one-party state but that will be only when we allow it.
“So, we must fight for democracy in Nigeria and it is only the PDP that can do that. No body owns this party but other parties are owned.
“Here, we follow due process democratically. I want to beg all of you especially the NWC to do everything to bring this party back on track.
“There are so many issues and it is time now for us to address those issues, where necessary, forgive and forget and where necessary take necessary actions.
“Some people are blaming us for not taking disciplinary action on time and of course that has always been the bane of the party. We look at faces before we take the action.
“But some of us especially the BoT, we are always objective. Anything that goes outside our constitution will create problems, we should strictly abide by our constitution. Follow the law, the rules and our constitution religiously and we cannot fail.”
Speaking in a similar vein, the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, who is also Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, assured the BoT of the support of governors elected on the party’s platform.
Mohammed said, “The governors of the PDP are with you. They are also concerned.
“We are grateful that we emerged, all of us, as we went under your tutelage and the support that we got for you in spite of your position.
“We recognize that most of the BOT members have suffered so much period of out of office in parentheses.
“Everybody understands what I’m saying, but they still stood with us.
“We are the first line charge and beneficiaries of this party, as elected members. since we don’t have a presidency, the responsibility for catering for the party and members rest on us, even in states where we don’t have a government and we have been working very hard behind the scene.
“Some of the strategies had been let out by the BOT chairman himself.
“We need it to be strategic so that this country does not become a one party state and that we needed to make sure that all of us came out victorious.”
