By Emeka Nze
Abuja
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday held its national conference in Abuja without many of its bigwigs in attendance.
Those conspicuously absent at the well-attended occasion, were former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Senate President, David Mark, and the erstwhile National Chairman of the party, Malam Adamu Mu’azu, who resigned his position after the party’s defeat in the last
presidential election.
Others, who did not attend the occasion held at THISDAY Dome include; former governor of Niger state, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, and his Delta state counterpart, Emmanuel Uduaghan.
The absence of the party chieftains, many observers said, symbolised that the wound of defeat and acrimony being nursed by some members after they lost power at the centre as well as in many states, were yet to fully heal.
Speaking at the event, Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, called on the party to urgently set up a shadow cabinet to benchmark the APC-led federal government on its campaign promises to Nigerians, none of which according to him, had been fulfilled.
He said: “We need to urgently set up a shadow cabinet to benchmark the APC-led federal government on its promises. It is the greatest service we can offer to Nigeria and her democracy at this time. That is our task. Citizens and indeed posterity will not be kind to us if we fail in these laudable goals.
“We must not deter in holding the APC-led federal government accountable. The ruling party must always be put at the mercy of the truth.
That is the job of the opposition: to confront errors with the truth; to stand up for what is right; to offer constructive criticisms of the follies and errors of the ruling party; and to proffer better ideas for moving the nation forward.”
Taking on the APC on its campaign promises, Ekweremadu claimed the party promised Nigerians more than it could deliver , just to win their votes.
“Unfortunately, the chicken has come home to roost sooner than anticipated. No campaign promise, I repeat, no promise made by the present APC administration has been kept.
“They promised to scale up the exchange rate of our currency by making one naira equal to one US dollar. Have they kept this promise? They promised to bring back the Chibok girls in three months. Have they brought back the Chibok Girls?
“They promised to pay N5,000 to 25 million unemployed youths.
Have they paid a kobo to any youth? They promised free meals to our children in the schools. Have they given any?
“They recently promised to end the Boko Haram insurgency in December 2015. We earnestly hope and pray that this particular promise is kept in the overall interest of our nation,” he said.
Rather than delivering on their promises, the deputy senate president continued, the Buhari administration, in his view, kept on driving the economy downward.
He said: “Inflation has nearly hit double digits high, rising to 9.4 percent in October from 9.3 per cent in September. Unemployment rate has hit the rooftop since May 2015, with the construction industry laying off tens of thousands of workers.
“There is massive job loss in the banking sector. Many businesses are being grounded because they can no longer buy spare parts or restock from Europe, China, Dubai, among others. The system is locked down.
The capital market has lost over N400 billion in recent months.
“This nosedive is due mainly to the free fall of the naira, absence of clear economic direction, delay in the appointment of ministers, the cramping monetary policy of the administration, and the exclusion of Nigeria from the J.P Morgan Bond Index. Indeed, recession stares us in the face.”
He accused the governing party of allegedly excluding some sections of the country or brazen lopsidedness in the appointments of its cabinet members, saying this sharply contrasted with what obtained in the 16 years of the PDP administration.
According to him, “every part of Nigeria was given a sense of belonging despite its political choices. Today, a panorama of nepotism pervades the country.
“In a country that is just recovering from a most divisive and bitterly fought presidential election in her history; in a country where a presidential election believed to have been won by a patriotic Nigerian was annulled; in a country which has deteriorated from one that citizens held high political and civil service offices outside their places of origin to one in which they can hardly do so anymore; and indeed in a country where there has been consistent outbreaks of militancy, restiveness, and protests by people who believe they have been short-changed, maltreated, and therefore better off outside the Nigerian commonwealth.”
“I firmly believe from the depth of my heart and conscience that a leader does not even need a soothsayer or compulsion of the constitution to know that he or she must necessarily carry every part of the country along. It is an indisputable fact that our strength as a nation, is in our unity,” he said.
Ekweremadu also maintained that although the PDP supports the current anti-corruption drive of the Buhari administration, but urged it to diligently guide against the politicisation of the war.
According to him, the anti-graft war constituted a heavy moral burden on government, insisting that the fight was tainted with witch-hunt and fixated people’s minds on the politics of the anti-corruption drive rather than on whether the accused persons were guilty as charged.
“Vindictiveness and selective targeting of perceived political enemies do not represent a blueprint for change.”
Earlier in his address of welcome, the acting national chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, also warned the governing APC to stop interfering in judicial matters concerning PDP states.
He said: “Enough is enough! Let it be clear that the people of Nigeria and PDP members would stand resolutely against any attempt to constrain our cherished freedoms under the rule of law.”
Describing the PDP as the “most valued democratic asset in Nigeria today”, the party leader claimed the APC was conscious of this fact and that was the reason it resolved to destroy the party.
And to delegates to the conference, he counselled: “We must be determined to ensure that we resist the temptation to continue in the blame game; to make sure that selfish interests do not divide us and give the ruling Party the leeway to realize their goals. The future of our great party is bright.”