By Emmanuel Oloniruha
The Presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has pledged that he would meet the expectations of the party and Nigerians when elected president in 2023.
Abubakar made the promise during his remarks at the PDP 97 National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Thursday.
He appreciated the NEC members for their support during the party’s convention in May where he emerged as the presidential candidate of the PDP.
“I cannot thank you enough. My promise is that I will meet your expectations and the expectations of Nigerians.
“Let me also use this opportunity to thank our outgoing BoT Chairman for his services and sense of patriotism for our great party,” Abubakar said.
The former vice president also expressed his commitment to ensuring that the internal crisis in the party was resolved.
“Many speakers have alluded to family disagreement, family disagreements are normal even in normal families as well as political families.
“But what I can assure you is that we are determined to resolve those issues internally. There are not really fundamental disagreements, it is normal,” Abubakar said.
He appealed to all party members to ensure that it’s challenges were resolved internally within the provisions of the party’s constitution.
“As a political party we have our constitution, our rules and our regulations.
“I want to urge that no matter the level of disagreement, it should be resolved within our constitution, within our rules, within our regulations.
“We have all what it takes to guide us to continue to nurture this political party, to provide a platform for all Nigerians to realize their collective and individual aspirations.
“Therefore, I wish to appeal to all members of our party to make sure that all our disagreements are resolved internally,” Abubakar said.
In his remarks, the former President of the Senate and acting Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Sen. Adolphus Wabara urged party members to always control their emotions and ensure disagreements within the party were addressed internally.
“The PDP has an inbuilt mechanism to solve problems. We have done it several times. When people expect us to implode, that is when we become very glorious.
“I want to advise us that we should always deprive ourselves in-house no matter what the anger is; let us deprive ourselves in-house rather than playing to the gallery.
“We should watch and control our utterances because by and large, only God knows tomorrow.
“Because once you voice out something, it is always difficult for you to pick back what you voice out.
“My advice to use is that we should be mature enough to control our temper,” Wabara said.
Earlier, the party’s National Chairman, Sen. Iyorchia Ayu, said he was happy that PDP is united and Nigerians were enthusiastic about the party in spite of the impression being created by some people.
“I am happy that the Nigerian people are interested in our party. I am interested not because we disagree among ourselves, but in our capacity to deliver and when we take over power.
“We have done it before and I believe that people will also give us their mandates.”
Ayu urged the party to focus on the issues that worried Nigerians including issues of security, education, economy, health, national infrastructure that will help the country to move forward.
On his part, the Chairman, PDP Governors Forum, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, said that the forum was working to address the misunderstanding in the party.
He pledged that PDP governors would continue delivery of dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
Tambuwal commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and President Muhammadu Buhari for improving of the country electoral system, urging them to sustain it to make 2023 general elections free and credible.
“We must as people of goodwill, as believers and democracy encouraged President Buhari, indeed INEC and all security agencies to ensure that we have free, fair, transparent election in 2023.
“In any case, that was what PDP presided over in 2015. So it’s only an improvement on the legacy of the PDP if that is done by the APC administration,” Tambuwal said.
The Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Chukwuka Utazi, said that the party Caucus in the National Assembly was united and indivisible.
Utazi, who pledged their support to the party in the 2023 general elections, urged all to work together for the success of the party.(NAN)
