2023: PDP Set To Review Manifesto

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), would in the days ahead, set up a committee to review its manifesto to align with current realities.

This was part of the resolution reached at the end of the party’s caucus meeting which ended in the early hours of yesterday in Abuja.

The party is also looking at the registration of new members nationwide as well as reaching out to those who left the party for one reason or the other in a bid to swell up to its ranks.

Similarly, the Bala Mohammed Committee set up to review the performance of the party in the 2019 general election submitted its report to the national leadership of the party in Abuja, yesterday.

A highly-placed party source who pleaded anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to go public with what transpired at the meeting told newsmen that the time was indeed right to review the party’s manifesto.

“We are looking at a number of things including setting up a committee to review the PDP manifesto.

“You recall that we set up a committee chaired by the governor of Bauchi State to look at our performance in the 2019 general elections. The importance of this is to see what went wrong, what we did right, and ways of avoiding mistakes of the past. That report is ready.

“By and large, we are working at repositioning the PDP ahead of the task ahead and I can assure you that we are leaving no stone unturned to make sure the party is stronger,” he said.

Emerging from the meeting, the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, who initially declined to field questions from journalists, said the meeting discussed a wide range of issues affecting the health of the nation.

“We deliberated on a number of issues on the state of the nation. We are telling this government to wake up and do more for the people,” he said.

On his part, Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State said PDP would get better even as he described the party as the most nationalistic party in the country.

The meeting held at the Akwa Ibom State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, and was attended by Governors Udom Emmanuel, Aminu Tambuwal, Ifeanyi Okowa, and Bala Mohammed, of Akwa Ibom, Sokoto, Delta, and Bauchi states, respectively.

Others included Governors Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Adamu Fintiri (Adamawa), Ishaku Darius (Taraba) as well as immediate past Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, Chairman of the PDP Disciplinary Committee, Chief Tom Ikimi, as well as former Minister of Defense, Haliru Bello Mohammed, amongst others.

Meanwhile, the 90th National Executive Council meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party began in Abuja, yesterday.

In his opening remarks, the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, called for a minute silence for all those who lost their lives due to the poor leadership of the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government.

He said, “We had cause to cry out that the APC government led by President Muhammadu Buhari was doing nothing about the socio-economic situation in the country“.

Secondus explained that the #EndSARS protest championed by Nigerian youths was direct fallout of not just police brutality but also the mismanagement of our collective wealth by the current regime.

Those at the meeting include Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Aminu Tambuwual (Sokoto), Darius Ishaku (Taraba), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Duoye Diri (Bayelsa), and Ben Ayade (Cross River).

The former Senate Presidents: Iyorchia Ayu, David Mark, and Bukola Saraki, among others, also attended the meeting.