New Telegraph

Why we can’t zone presidential ticket now –PDP

…says Jonathan, others can run in 2023

About three weeks after Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC) citing the failure of PDP to zone its presidential ticket to South-East, the party has explained why it could not decide where its next candidate for the 2023 presidential election will come from.

The party, however, said former President Goodluck Jonathan or any Nigerian is free to run for presidency on its platform. PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, in an interactive session with the media to mark the third anniversary of the present National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, yesterday, said anything concerning the 2023 elections should take back seat.

Secondus-led PDP NWC was elected on December 10, 2017. The national chairman said the party has a method of doing things, disclosing that at the moment, PDP is studying its performance in the 2019 general election. “After the general election, we set up a panel to study and appraise our performance and make necessary recommendations.

The Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, is heading the committee and they are still working. “We did the same thing when we lost election in 2015 when we set up the Senator Ike Ekweremadu committee to look into why we lost. It was from that report that the party took action towards 2019,” Secondus explained. He insisted that PDP must study its last outing before looking ahead, adding that it could not be talking of zoning when the party has not appraised how it fared in the last election.

“Moreover, the state of the nation today is such that politics or anything concerning 2023, which is three years away, should take back stage. Nigeria is in a comatose state today where APC brought it, that should be our concern now,” he advised. Secondus added that the decision on where its presidential candidate will come from will be a joint decision of all the organs of the party. “On the issue of the former president, I stand by my statement.

The Bala (Mohammed) committee is still working, coming out with report on why we lost and by the time they finish, we will take a decision and the decision will not be for the NWC only, but the entirety of our party. “And I believe that whoever that is interested in 2023, maybe including the former president, should wait till then. “The thing is that PDP is a party for all. Everybody will have that opportunity. But in clear terms, we have not taken any decision to give anybody the ticket for now,” he said.

Secondus regretted that President Muhammadu Buhari was not decisive on the security challenges facing the country, noting that the president, who was scheduled to address the nation’s parliament on Thursday, backed out at the last moment. He added that the president’s back and front on vital issue as security that is overwhelming the country underscores PDP’s position “that nobody is in-charge and that this is a broken government.”

“Disregarding the nation’s parliament is disregarding Nigeria people because they are represen-tatives of the people. “The truth, which is worrisome, is that the president either does not know what is happening or does know what to do, otherwise he should not be afraid to face the people.

“The hard fact facing all of us now is that this regime has woefully failed Nigerians in all ramifications. “It is a shame that a government that came to power brandishing its military credential as a General with the propaganda to wipe away Boko Haram in 100 days is there five years plus presiding over the worst security situation in our history with no clear direction what to do and even afraid to face the country’s parliament to explain what he is doing,” he said.

Secondus recalled his assessment of the APC government and concluded that “everything on ground in our country today from insecurity to the recessed economy etc. points to the fact that Nigeria entered the wrong bus in 2015 and they are paying for it because wrong vehicle cannot take you to your correct destination.” He, however, said all hope is not lost as there is light at the end of the tunnel.

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