. Submits PDP reconciliation report to Secondus
By Amos Okioma
Bayelsa State Governor and Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Reconciliation Committee, Henry Seriake Dickson, has presented the report of his committee to the party’s National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, in Abuja.
Presenting the report at the party’s national secretariat on Thursday, March 14, Dickson commended the party leadership for setting up the committee.
While commending members of the committee for their service to the party and commitment to building a viral party that would wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dickson said, ‘‘We will not stop serving until we salvage our country.’’
According to a statement by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Francis Ottah Agbo, Dickson is the longest serving chairman of the committee having served in that capacity since the days of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, as chairman.
The governor said, even before the convention, his committee had swung into action, formulating the template and laying the foundation for the work of the committee, pointing out that, 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.
While thanking the National Working Committee for showing leadership, the governor said that the mammoth crowd at the recent Jigawa PDP rally was a signpost of a quit notice for APC!
According to Dickson, the committee recommended that, the PDP returns the party to the people, constitute all its standing committees, deliberately carve responsibilities for women and youths, deliberately give a sense of belonging to the South West leaders in the party, constantly woo those who had left 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.”
The National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, thanked Governor Dickson and his committee for doing a wonderful work and pledged to implement all the recommendations of the committee.
He said that the APC has become a threat to national security and declared the resolve of his leadership to galvanise Nigerians to displace the APC.
He boasted that the PDP under his leadership has been rebranded and repositioned, stressing that the recent PDP rally in Jigawa, an APC state, was a testimony to the fact that, Nigerians now own PDP.
‘‘The APC is a threat to national security. 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. 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.’’
High point of the presentation of the report was the inauguration of the Dickson-led Committee as a standing committee by the National Chairman.