•Says delay in zoning 2023 presidential ticket tactical
The National Chairman elect of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has said that the party’s loss of the Presidency in 2015 was a blessing in disguise. According to him, the emergence of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the seat of power in the last six years has left no one in doubt that Nigeria was far better under the PDP administration. According to him, the PDP might have plunged the country into a dictatorship or become complacent if the party had remained in government till now.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, Ayu said the PDP under his watch questions will reposition and re-energise the party to take back power in 2023. He said: “My priority is for the party to take power. Political parties’ priority is always to win. Therefore, I reviewed the reasons why we lost power in 2015 and going to work to unite the party, to sharpen the programs of the party, market the party to the Nigerian electorate in a way that they will be prepared to vote for us.
“In a democracy, it’s normal for a political party to lose power. If we didn’t lose power, maybe we would have become a dictatorship or become complacent. To believe in democracy…there must have been something we were doing wrong or must have done wrong that the Nigerian electorate shifted. But today, if we didn’t lose power, they won’t experience the policies and programs of the other party. They would think there is something better than us. Thank God we lost power. Today, Nigerian people know better.
“And I believe we will re-energize the party and take over power again, not only at the centre, but in Nigeria, there is a lot of attention taking power at the federal level. There was time PDP was controlling about 20 states. That has been reduced to 13. We hope and pray and we will work very hard to increase that number from 13 to control over 20 states, possibly, we will win the federal government. So, that is really my vision for this party. We will unite the party as I have said and I believe that very soon, we will have a very united, very focused political party.”
Ayu disclosed that the decision by the PDP to delay the zoning of its presidential ticket I was a tactical move, saying that the decision would be made democratically at the appropriate time. “We are a very democratic party. We don’t have problems in resolving our problems within the party. Everybody thought the zoning of party offices will destroy the party. I think Nigerians were pleasantly surprised that we resolved it without any controversy whatsoever. So, those who are visiting controversies on the party are not getting it right. I believe that when the time comes, because today, we have separated the zoning of party offices and zoning of the executive and legislative offices and it’s very tactical,” he said.