Nigeria’s major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has said many Nigerians who are already fed up with the misrule of President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are yearning for its (PDP) return to power in 2023.
After 16 years in power, beginning from the return of democratic lost power to the then oppogovernance in 1999, the PDP sition, the APC, in the 2015 presidential election, after President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC flag bearer, defeated Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who ran on the PDP platform.
Buhari secured re-election on the APC platform in 2019 by defeating Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president, who was the PDP’s presidential candidate.
Speaking exclusively with Daily Independent on Tuesday, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, said having tested both parties, Nigerians have realised that the PDP is the only party that has their interests at heart.
“It is only the PDP that understands the nuances of our country. It is the only party that is truly representational and has the interest of Nigerians at heart.As such, the party that understands this country and can govern this country effectively is the PDP. Having experienced both parties, Nigerians have seen the clear-cut difference and will take a decision in the 2023 general elections”.
He said the PDP is filled with highly resourceful politicians and experts who have what it takes to fix Nigeria and proffer solutions to the myriad of problems confronting the nation, such as insecurity and economic challenges, which the APC had been clueless in proffering solutions to.
“If you recall, last month, APC governors paid former President Goodluck Jonathan a visit. Why will they do that if indeed, as they claimed then, Jonathan was a failure? Will anybody want to associate with a failure? Everybody flocks around a successful person and that is what the PDP represents”.
“Like we said then, the visit is a clear endorsement of the acceptability of the PDP administration and it is also an indication that the APC, in 2015, only created artificial symbols of misgovernance, corruption, and other alleged misgivings just to discredit our party and grab the levers of power to achieve their selfish desires.
“It is evident that the Jonathan administration succeeded in office basically because our party understands the nuances of our nation, which we translated into people-oriented policies and programmes, in line with the manifesto of our party, to make life comfortable for Nigerians,” he said.
In its response, the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said it is impossible for the PDP to win the presidential election in 2023 as it will no longer be in existence by then.
Seye Oladejo, the party’s publicity secretary, said Nigerians would not forget in a hurry how the PDP plunged Nigeria into her current woes which the APC-led Federal Government had been working to address.
“The PDP, as a party, cannot speak for Nigerians as the creator of our enduring problems as a nation. The socio-economic, political, and security challenges remain the legacies of the PDP years that Nigerians will not forget in a hurry. It’s just a figment of their imagination to think that anyone would wish for a return of the years of the locust.
“There’s no doubt that with robust policies and determination on the part of the APC-led Federal Government, the years ahead hold lofty promises for all and sundry. Besides, I’m not certain there will still be a political party by that name by 2023, with its unabated free fall and its leadership at daggers drawn.”
Also speaking, Tanko Yunusa, a former presidential candidate and National Consultative Front’s (NCF) Head of Public Affairs Bureau, said Nigerians are tired of the PDP and APC as they have become devastated with the two political parties.
He said Nigerians who are tired of recycling products are looking for an alternative in 2023.
“Nigerians are tired of lack from the past and present. They are looking for new alternative. They have tried to give their hope in the past they were disappointed. Presently they are more than devastated. They are looking for fresh ideas and younger generation not recycled product”.
