The National Reconciliation Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon Henry Seriake Dickson, has submitted its report to the National Working Committee led by the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus at the National Secretariat, Wadata House, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.
While making the presentation, Governor Dickson thanked the party for the thoughtful and proactive steps taken in setting up the Reconciliation Committee and warned opposition APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, against any attempt to rig the 2019 elections.
He also expressed gratitude to the party for the support the committee received in actualising its mandate.
Governor Dickson equally congratulated the Chairman and the NWC for the mammoth support of the party as witnessed in the just-held rally in Jigawa State; a sign post that Nigerians across the country have accepted the party on the one hand, and issued a quit notice to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) come 2019, on the other.
The Bayelsa Governor stated that the committee started work even before the convention ended and proactively moved round the country; engaged party leaders and members who harboured grievances and complaints in respect of the 2018 National Convention.
He appreciated the leaders of the party across the country for the warm reception, high regard and team spirit they accorded the committee throughout the assignment.
He added that the committee having interacted with a cross section of party leaders, women and youths summarized key issues raised across the country.
The issues include:
1. The committee is of the view that the PDP should lead a broad-based coalition to wrest power from the APC in order to salvage Nigeria form further ruin. It recommended that the party should build alliances and establish inter- personal contacts with everyone, including those that have either left or abandoned the party. This desire for the broad-based coalition should be open to everyone who intends to salvage the country from the present mismanagement of the ruling party.
2. The NWC should as soon as possible constitute all statutory standing committees of the party including a strategy committee for the task ahead. The composition of the leadership and membership of these committees must include women, youth and leaders of our party especially those who feel aggrieved and excluded from party activities.
3. In the course of our engagements across the country, we realized that the South West Geo-political Zone deserves some special attention and thus we recommend close personal interaction between the NWC and the zone.
4. We equally received several complaints that border on the involvement of women. Thus we suggest that the party should deliberately crave the support and involvement of women. As the most women-friendly party in the country, the NWC should deliberately cultivate them and assure them that our doors shall remain open for them at all levels of the party.
5. The most crucial part of our recommendations which the entire country hasreiterated is the party’s respect for the rule of law and internal democracy. Even though, we are adjudged the most Democratic Party in the country today, we must re-examine ourselves and create a level playing field for all aspirants at all times.
Concluding, the Governor once more thanked the party for the honour and privilege to serve and pledged that he and members of the committee are readily available to serve the party in whatever capacity whenever called upon. His words: “I and other members of the committee have pledged to work for the party and the nation until the nation is salvaged.”
In his reply,the National Chairman thanked the committee for the good work done. He stated that the report would serve as a guiding template for the going forward of the party. He added that henceforth, the committee has being designated as a standing committee to guide the party in the build-up to the 2019 elections.
“This is a new PDP, rebranded and repositioned to regain lost power” adding that ‘PDP is open to everyone with particular emphasis on women and youths. We want the party to be open to women and youths to aspire to the highest office in the land so we can jointly rescue our nation”, he said.
Prince Secondus stressed on the fact that even during the years of the Nigerian Civil War, the country was never as divided and disunited as it presently is under the watch of the APC government.
Hear him: “APC government is a threat to the unity of this country and only PDP has the capacity to restore the unity of the country once again”.
While positing that the party’s stands with the National Assembly to make laws for the land and the good of the people and not for any cabal in Aso Rock, the party chairman said, ‘The APC government is broken and we are ready with open doors for all the other parties to join hands and rescue this country from ruin’.
In his conclusion, the chairman said, “We hope to form a government of national unity in 2019 where all Nigerians will have a sense of belonging irrespective of religion, tribe or gender. Let me sound a note of warning, APC and INEC cannot rig the 2019 elections. The election is for Nigerians to decide who would lead them and Nigerians shall resist any attempt to rig the 2019 election at all cost”.
