The Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, has appealed to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP National Working Committee called to redouble efforts towards luring defected members and strengthen the party’s position as a formidable opposition force.
Wike made this statement during a courtesy visit to the National Working Committee led by Abduraham Mohammed at the PDP headquarters, Wadata Plaza, Abuja, on Friday.
The FCT minister also reaffirmed that the PDP remains the principal opposition force, stressing that the African Democratic Congress could not lay such a claim, having not secured electoral victories.
He acknowledged that it would not be easy for the PDP, but expressed confidence in the leadership’s ability to restore the party to its former glory.
He continued, “Yes, we had a crisis, and we have almost come out of the crisis. It is not going to be easy. It requires a lot of hard work. It requires a lot of sacrifice for you to move the party forward. I know that you have old hands there; you have the National Secretary, the Legal Adviser, and the Zonal Vice Chairmen, and particularly the oldest one is the South-South. So, you have old hands that will guide you and give you all the necessary support. Continue to bring out programmes that will continue to make the party popular.
“Yes, today we are not in government, but this is the main opposition party as far as this country is concerned. You cannot become a main opposition party without winning elections. So those who say that they are leading the opposition have never contested in any election. The one they contested is the Abuja Municipal Area Council; they could not get one councillor. So, how can they be the leading opposition party? They are claiming that people are defecting to their party, and that’s how they become the leading opposition. Yet again, they criticise people who are defecting to other parties—that is wrong—but those defecting to their own party—that is right. That tells you the kind of leadership they want to give to Nigerians.”
“I also want to urge you to do what you can to bring back our members who have defected, thinking that the party would no longer come back. Make sure you attract them back into the fold, talk to them, and send a powerful team to interact with them. Most of them are afraid if they will get a ticket or not. You know what to do.
I am sure that Nigerians will prefer this party to all of those who are shouting.”
