The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on Nigerians to wrestle the country out of the grip of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus made the call in his opening speech at the party’s 2018 Special National Convention in Port Harcourt on Saturday.
He said: “The choice you make today will go a long way to rescue our nation from the APC governance.’’
According to Secondus, the theme of the Convention was “Nigerians take back your country,” a slogan he repeatedly emphasised as he read his speech which was streamed life on Channels television.
Addressing the large gathering of party delegates and supporters at the Adokiye Amasiemeka stadium, venue of the Convention, Secondus equally called on President Muhammadu Buhari to “go home.”
Describing his party as “an organic party,” Secondus noted that the PDP “has withered the storm as a ruling party and as an opposition party.”
He said further: “PDP is today improved, enhanced and has graduated from an opposition party to a ruling party in waiting.”
Making boast of the party’s strength at the National Assembly, he said; “today PDP is now in control of the leadership of the National Assembly, an unprecedented fete in Nigeria’s democracy. The convention is a crucial stage in PDP’s unstoppable march to regain power.’’
He equally took cognizance of four sitting governor’s who defected from the APC present at the Convention as a testimony to the growth of the party.
Recalling that the party gathered in Jos, Plateau, some 20 years ago for a similar convention to herald a new democracy in Nigeria in 1999, Secondus listed the achievements of the party in the 16 years it piloted the affairs of the nation.
“We piloted the affairs of Nigeria for 16 years without engaging in the blame game. We liberalised the economy, introduces reforms in Telecom, insurance, pension scheme, banking and finance, we introduced electoral reforms that helped the APC to win in 2015, we fought corruption by establishing the ICPC.
“We have learnt our lesson.”
The party boss assured Nigerians that the PDP “will work for Nigeria’s unity, secure Nigerians, educate our youths, reduce poverty, return Nigeria to the path of economic growth and run an inclusive government if it wins the presidential poll in 2019.”
In his address, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa, the Chairman of the Convention Planning Committee also assured that the electoral process would be transparent.
The Convention was declared open at about 8. 35 p. m.
