The Peoples Democracy Party (PDP) on Wednesday said it was not just an
\nopposition party but a government-in-waiting.<\/p>\n
Chairman of National Caretaker Committee of the party, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi,
\nstated this when he received syndicate reports of the Strategy Review
\nCommittee led by Prof. Jerry Gana in Abuja.<\/p>\n
He said that PDP would become the ruling party in 2019 if its members did
\nthe right thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is in the interest of Nigerians that opposition exists and is strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigerians will not expect opposition that behaves in unruly manner; one
\nthat will be there to talk down on government all the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should not be unreasonable in our opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should use our brains so that when we criticise and bring out
\nalternative ways of doing things, we will convince Nigerians that we are
\nbetter set of people to rule Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, if we show that there is no difference, Nigerians will say `no, they
\nare birds of the same feather\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why we must criticise, using our brain to actually connect with
\nNigerians so that we can convince them that we are what we say we are,\u201d
\nMakarfi said.<\/p>\n
On reconciliation in the party, the chairman said that the party\u2019s
\nleadership must not withdraw from any opportunity to \u200ereconcile with its
\nmembers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must not close door for reconciliation and negotiation but we must
\nreconcile based on strong position. A unified judgment by Court of Appeal
\nwill place us in good stead.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
He added that it was only the judgment from the Court of Appeal in Port
\nHarcourt that the party was waiting for in moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are waiting for judgment that will restore hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow the court will restore that hope is for the will of PDP members to be
\nrespected, and we are giving the legal right for us to go ahead to build a
\nvirile party.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Markarfi, however, urged the party executive and its organs at the state
\nand local government levels to continue to work while waiting for the
\ncourt\u2019s decision on its leadership.<\/p>\n
He commended the committee for its efforts towards the repositioning of
\nthe party, recalling that the committee was self-funded \u201cand this is the
\nkind of sacrifice that PDP needs to rise and fly again\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u200ePresenting the report earlier, Gana said that the committee would submit
\nits final report at the end of January.<\/p>\n
Gana said that the committee also planned to have a brief session with PDP
\ngovernors and the National Assembly caucus before the submission of the
\nreport.<\/p>\n
The Gana\u2019s committee was set up in November, 2016, to evolve ways to
\nreconcile the party leadership crisis and reposition it to win future
\nelections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Peoples Democracy Party (PDP) on Wednesday said it was not just an opposition party but a government-in-waiting. Chairman of National Caretaker Committee of the party, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, stated…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n