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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has apologised to Nigerians for several mistakes it made as governing party between 1999 and 2015.
This is even as it said it would serve as a rallying point for a new socio-political order, ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Speaking at a public discourse in Abuja on Monday tagged: “Nation Building: Resetting the Agenda”, the party admitted that it engaged in impunity and imposition of candidates when it dominated the nation’s political space for 16 years.
In his address, National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, lamented that what PDP built in the past 16 years have collapsed under the present administration.
According to him, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has failed abysmally in the three major planks that it sold itself to Nigerians namely: combating corruption, tackling insecurity and revamping the nation’s economy.
“Our economy has been under immense pressure especially in the last 34 months of governance by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“We will lead the charge by using our elected representatives and organs to boldly address critical national issues like restructuring, devolution of power, ‘not to young to run’ gender equality, economic advancement, corruption, insecurity, unity, and good governance to mention but a few.
“We are evolving from who we were to who we ought to be. A principled party of avowed democrats who are committed to building a virile strong nation whether we are in government or opposition. As a party, we have been through various challenges, ups and downs, good and bad, failure and success, promotion and demotion and yet we are still standing. We are a party that despite our differences possess a strong unity of purpose. We are a party that has lost and won; celebrated and mourned. We spot talent and nurture them and our track record speaks eloquently for us. Our appeal is universal regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, creed or religion. We are a truly democratic party that is not ruled by ‘cabals’ or even a ‘lion’.
“It based on the overwhelming cries that we have actively and purposely activated an aggressive and urgent process of resetting the agenda for nation building in a multi-pronged initiative tagged ‘Rescue Nigeria’ which I present to you today. It’s a collective effort,” he said.
The National Chairman decried the borrowing spree of the APC administration, adding that “from friends and members of this government, we learnt that while in 16 years PDP government was able to borrow N6 trillion and had some projects commissioned for it, in just less than three years, APC regime has borrowed N11 trillion and has not commissioned a single project.”
Some party chieftains at the event include: former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; immediate past National Chairman of the party, Ahmed Makarfi; former Senate President Adolphus Wabara; national chairmanship aspirant in the last national elective convention of the party, Bode George as well as former governors Peter Obi, Babangida Aliyu among others.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
