The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has thrown its weight behind the new PDP Governors’ Forum (PGF), urging the governors to use it to promote the people oriented policies and programmes of the PDP.
In the same vein, the party charged its caucuses in the two chambers of the National Assembly to close ranks and ensure that the activities of the federal legislature is dominated by PDP-led objectives which are in the general interest of the people.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh said in a statement yesterday that the formation of a PDP Governors’ Forum has been long overdue and commended the PDP state governors for taking a bold step in that direction.
The party noted that while the general Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) is a laudable idea, the PDP Governors’ Forum must be used by the PDP governors as an effective platform to project the activities of the party and the successes recorded by PDP-led governments across the board.
“The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) commends the PDP state governors for having formed the PDP Governors’ Forum and electing a new chairman. It is long overdue for the PDP to have its own governors’ forum with its own chairman.
“The new PDP Governors’ Forum must therefore use its large membership to project the people oriented policies and programmes of the PDP as well as the successes recorded by PDP-led governments across the board”, the statement said.
The party charged its governors to be conscious of the fact that there is presently a big divide between the PDP and the opposition parties in terms of policies, programmes and manifestos and as such endeavor to use the new forum to forge a partnership that will clearly show the successes achieved in the PDP controlled states.
“We must show something that is different between the performance of the PDP governors in office and the performance of the opposition. Let the difference be clear. It is not a thin line. It is a large wall dividing the PDP and the opposition parties”, the party said.
The party also commended the governors for choosing Akwa-Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio as the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, describing him as a “loyal, dedicated and committed party man”. The party said it believes that Akpabio will use his new office to ensure that the programmes of the party were effectively implemented.
In urging the PDP caucus in the National Assembly to close ranks, the leadership of the party said the lawmakers should use the actions of the governors “as a tonic for them to engineer their caucuses in both the Senate and House of Representatives to ensure that their activities and debates are dominated by PDP objectives and our manifesto.”