‘PDP Post Convention Dinner, Waste Of Public Fund’

L-R: Vice President Namadi Sambo, UN Secretary General ‘s Special Envoy on Global Education (UNSE), Mr Gordon Brown and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, at a conference on Accelerating Progress in Attainment of Education for All in Nigeria in Abuja, last Monday.

The new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Abubakar Kawu Baraje has condemned the hosting of some of the party’s members to a post-convention dinner by President Goodluck Jonathan at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
In a statement yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the new PDP, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said that the dinner was a huge waste of the scarce resources available to government to address very pressing national issues.
Eze noted that to the new party, “the dinner was organised to give credibility to the charade that was called PDP Special National Convention,” stressing that, “as a serious group, we cannot be a party to such squander-mania while Nigerian masses are wallowing in abject poverty.
“We are surprised that a responsible government would be hosting such a dinner when our children are kept at home by the same Federal Government because it cannot meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). We wish to have nothing to do with such waste of public funds on pleasure and trivialities.
“We cannot be party to such a gathering while the PDP family is facing serious crisis that if not checked, could dim the party’s chances of winning future elections.
The new PDP advised those trivialising President Jonathan’s ambition to contest the 2015 election, and making unnecessary threats to desist now as only one ethnic group or tribe cannot make any presidential candidate win election in Nigeria.
“While urging Nigerians across the nation to identify with the new PDP, we commend the thousands of people from Kaduna and Bayelsa States who have wisely decided to team up with our new leadership in the party under the chairmanship of Abubakar Kawu Baraje to salvage the PDP from imminent disintegration. We assure these great minds that they will be fully protected under our umbrella,” the statement added.