National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, said there is no need for ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to field a candidate for next year’s presidential election,
Ayu, who said only the PDP can fix the country and save Nigeria, lamented what he described as the socio-economic dislocation and rising insecurity since the APC took the baton more than seven years ago.
The party chair spoke at the PDP national secretariat during an interactive session with one of the presidential aspirant of the party Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel.
Ayu said: “The six to seven years that the PDP has been out of power, you have seen what the other party has turned Nigeria into.”
He lamented that it had become risky for Nigerians to travel form one part of country to the other.
Ayu said: “In the current situation that we are in, we have the capacity. We have 17 aspirants, each of them competent to run this country. The other party is a fragmented alliance; very soon it will disappear from the Nigerian political landscape.
“They can’t even hold a convention. They have a forced consensus where people were forced to sign away their aspirations.”
Ayu said Nigeria would see the difference between the ruling and opposition parties after their presidential conventions next month.
The PDP has fixed its presidential convention for May 28 and 29. APC plans to hold its own from May 30 to June 1.
“We are waiting for them to have a. We challenged them to have a presidential convention openly as we are going to have ours,” Ayu said.
Urging Nigerians not lose hope, the PDP chair said: “I am very confident that with the mood of the party, the unity we have in the party, the way we are working together, the hard work we are putting in the wards, the local governments and the states, will definitely yield results; that on May 29 next year, one of you will be sitting in the villa and we shall be there to celebrate with you.”
Governor Emmanuel, who was at the party secretariat to seek support for his presidential aspiration, Nigerians want to see those that will bring solutions to the problems and not those who would create more problems for the people.
The governor said: “They want to see those that will be bridge builders and not those that are creating further division. They want to see those who have the capacity and who will re-construct the economic and social order in Nigeria.
“I am willing to serve, send me. If you look around anywhere in the world where the presidency is won, the campaign is based on knowledge and understanding of economic issues.”
