Politics

2019: PDP Begins Search For Presidential Candidate

Published

7 years ago

January 10, 2018

THE Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday said the party had commenced the search for its presidential flagbearer in the 2019 general election, noting that it would settle for the man with the best qualities to face the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate at the polls.

This came as Kola Ologbondiyan, the party’s spokesman claimed APC was being haunted by the lies it allegedly sold to Nigerians.

BoT chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin spoke while receiving members of a PDP Ward in Abuja who paid him a courtesy visit, as part of its familiarization visits to key functionaries of the party.

Jibrin, who declared the entire BoT’s support for the group, called on party supporters across the country to support the search for the most credible candidate from the pack of those that had already declared interest for the plum office.

According to him, PDP would not settle for a “Never-do-well” kind of candidate in 2019, stressing that the party was committed to bringing on board a “qualitative president” that would make governance count for the people.

He said: “All of us as a party agreed that the President of Nigeria should come from the North. I enjoin you to support the North to bring and give you a very capable president, not a never-do-well president but a good qualitative president. We are all doing what we can in the North with all the leaders to identify the best candidate to rule this country, the best person that will take away power from the ruling party because 2019 is our own. 2019 is for the PDP.”

While describing the return of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to the party as a good omen, Senator Jibrin called on former chieftains of the PDP, including incumbent Senate President, Bukola Saraki and immediate past governor of Kano State, Senator Musa Kwankwaso, to rejoin the party as quickly as possible.

“The return of Atiku to this party, whether we like it or not, is a good omen for the party. By boldly coming back to his home, it is a good omen. When Atiku left the APC, he did it peacefully unlike some of us; when they left our party, they tore our party card. He didn’t do that and that is why I am congratulating the APC for somebody not tearing their card.

“We are therefore calling on Saraki, Kwankwaso and all our former legislators who left this party to come back quickly. When they come back, then we shall together take a look at the issue of leadership; the issue of who wants to become the president of Nigeria will now depend on all of us. We all will decide who will be Nigeria’s president.”

Meanwhile, the party’s spokesman, while speaking yesterday on a television programme, claimed the APC government is all about propaganda and nothing more.

According to him: “All the lies APC sold to Nigerians are haunting them. We are telling Nigerians that this government is lying, this government and its party is about propaganda and nothing more. As we speak now, there is no direction on this issue of subsidy they said is evil and Nigerians bought into that lie but as we speak today the Federal Government is paying subsidy and they have not come out clean on the deals happening in the oil sector. The whole process is deceptive.’’