Former Special Adviser on Communication to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, has said Nigerians are desirous of seeing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) return to power in 2019.
Ugochukwu who was ex – chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), added that PDP remained the only party that could put a stop to the pall of “confusion and uncertainty” in the country and run the government better.
He spoke with reporters in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, after monitoring the PDP ward congresses held across the 236 wards of Ogun State on Saturday under the supervision of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the December 9 National Convention of the PDP slated for Abuja.
Ugochukwu, who is chairman of the state’s Ward Congresses Committee, said the PDP still remained formidable and acceptable to majority of Nigerians irrespective of it is being perceived in some quarters.
He hailed the peaceful conduct and high turnout at the ward congresses, saying it showed that the party is viable for the next general elections.
“We have to give some credit to the caretaker committee. The tendencies and all that are natural; every political party have people leaning to this way and that way.
“But they’ve been able to come together in the interest of the party to have peaceful congresses and that is a great thing. We are not expecting that everybody would be happy. You probably heard that some people went to court on Friday (to stop the congresses) but the court rejected them.
“But the great majority of our party people want to come together to end this period of confusion in the country because Nigerians are waiting for us to get our act together to run the government the way it should be run.
“We’ve gone round to some wards, not all of them. From what we saw, we are quite happy with the turnout. It just shows that the PDP is strong. That’s why people want to come out and participate. There were no impositions,” Ugochukwu said.
Also, the chairman, Ogun PDP Caretaker Committee, Tunde Odanye, said Nigerians have unwavering faith in the party.
Odanye said: “you know when things are tough, people always start looking at where lies their hope and I think people are looking at PDP as the alternative; they hope for them for the future. So, the turnout was proof that PDP is alive and well.
“When I came in, we first analysed what the problems were and we discovered that there were about seven tendencies. We’ve been able to unite five and half. Five are fully on board.
“Half of one – the key person in that one has one foot in another party, of which he is directly related to, so we can’t blame him, while some of his followers are with us. But I also have a feeling that he knows what his followers are doing with us.
“The one tendency who is totally against us, I think there was nothing we could do. Not that we didn’t try, we spoke to his people. Some of his people who saw reason with us or who are tired of being on the opposition all the time within the party moved over to us. But, of course, he still has his own bloc. His grouse doesn’t even seem to be with us alone.”
