The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, has advised leaders of the party to allow people at the grassroots decide their representatives in the 2019 general elections.
Secondus gave the advice during the interactive session of the National Working Committee (NWC) with the former PDP Ministers Forum, on Thursday in Abuja.
He said allowing people to decide their representatives would make the elections easier for the PDP.
The national chairman said in accordance with the slogan of the party, “Power to the People”, the PDP NWC intended to devolve power to the grassroots.
“You are aware we are not in government at the centre, so the only way is to make sure that the choice of the people are the best.
“If it is the popular choice of the people, the people will stand by them and elections become easy for us to win.
“The NWC is also putting all the necessary strategies together, and we assure that come 2019, Nigerians will vote for PDP, ” Secondus said.
He said that the best way to go for PDP is to make sure its elections are transparent; be it congresses or the primaries.
Secondus, who described the former ministers as key factors in the PDP, said the NWC was ready to work with them.
He charged the forum members to move to their constituencies and reignite the party by assuring them that power belongs to the people.
“Very soon, we shall roll out our programme. We are going back to online membership drive and it is going to be aggressive.
“We also want to assure you that members of the NWC are not ready to seat at Wadata, in the confines of air-conditioning.
“We want to roll out our programme and move to the States and the local governments, and we will get to the wards and if possible the units, to seek for membership.”
In his response, Chairman of the Former Ministers Forum, Tanimu Turaki, said with the current NWC, the war to bring back what rightly belongs to the people had started.
He advised the NWC to work with members of the forum in its crusade of saving Nigeria democracy, and the country from hunger, poverty, insecurity, hopelessness and joblessness.
“Whenever people criticise PDP, they are not criticising PDP for what it has done or not done for the party, they are criticising PDP for what it has done in government.
“So, the best set of people that are positioned to respond to those kinds of criticisms would be those who have served in government.
“These are people that have knowledge of what was done and what has not been done.
“These are the people who are aware of why those decisions, some of which have been very painful, had to be taken in the overall interest of Nigeria,” Turaki said.
He assured the NWC of the forum’s maximum support, saying:”when you move into the trenches, you will meet us there waiting for you”.(NAN)