By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, has appealed to Nigerians to join hands in the New Year to save Nigeria’s democracy and the nation from destruction.
In a New Year message issued by his Special Assistant, Media, Ike Abonyi, the PDP chairman said that the call became necessary as it was oblivious that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) under President Muhammadu Buhari was grossly incapacitated to lift the country out of the woods.
Secondus said that only concerted efforts from all lovers of democracy irrespective of their political, religious and tribal inclinations would rescue the country.
His words: “The destruction done to this country in the 67 months of the reign of President Buhari and his APC can only be restored if all patriots irrespective of leanings rise to the challenge by putting their differences aside for the nation.
“What is obvious is that this regime cannot help this country again having lost the goodwill of the people and yet not possessing the needed capacity to confront the myriads of challenges on ground.”
The PDP leader pointed out that the state of the nation could be better than what it is in the out-going year, stressing that it was the responsibility of leaders to strive to put things in a satisfactory manner.
He said that that one special ingredient of democracy was freedom of speech and association, while warning that any attempt through any means to curtail free speech in the country would be unacceptable and would be resisted.
The PDP national chairman also noted the “attempts by government officials to denigrate our leaders and heroes for telling truth to power which is what is expected of them and warned that any democracy that inhibits either directly or indirectly the freedom of speech is doomed to fail.”
According to Secondus, while it was not arguable that democracy remained the best form of government for the country, there was room for improvement, adding that the New Year provides an opportunity for the ruling party and the legislators to take necessary and urgent steps to deepen nation’s democracy.
He however called on the legislators to take critical and judicious look at the happenings in Nigeria and act in accordance with the desires and aspirations of the people not of their own individual interests.
“Everybody will be a loser if this democracy collapses due to the inactions of the leaders who due to greed and selfishness refuse to do the needful,” he said.
Prince Secondus said that the clamour for the restructuring of the current political structure and the rejigging of the nation’s security architecture should be given due attention in the New Year as it remained the best option for a lasting stability of the country.
He also pointed out that the hardship Nigerians were going through especially due to insecurity and corruption could be avoidable if only square pegs were put in a square holes to man critical sectors.
“Let us use the New Year to address critical issues with a view to finding lasting solutions to them rather than the current surface scratching of the problems.
“If we must tell ourselves the plain truth, this country is not working as it is and we just have to face the challenge squarely by being more pragmatic, less sentimental and eschew nepotism in our actions and reasoning,” he said. Secondus enjoined all Nigerians to show more accommodation to each other and embrace peaceful and harmonious living.
