Tapgun: With Ayu, PDP Back in Hands of Founding Fathers

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

A former Governor of Plateau State, Fidelis Tapgun, has said with the election of Iyorcha Ayu as National chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party has finally returned to its founding fathers.

Tapgun, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, spoke with Journalists yesterday, saying the implication was that the party would now go back to its original philosophy centered on fairness and value for the people.

He lamented that past leaders had created so much problem for the party and left them unresolved.
“The PDP is not called the PDP for nothing, and I want to congratulate the new national chairman and the chairman of the national convention committee for a job well done, because the party is now in the hands of those that understand the idea that informed the formation of the PDP,” he said.

Tapgun recalled that before the party was launched, a manifesto was drawn up on how the party was to operate, adding that, it was all agreed that the party belonged to the people and that was why it was called Peoples Democratic Party.

“What it means is that whatever decision by the party must be taken back to the people to decide and not a single individual, and that was why when it was launched, we went back to our states and the first elections were the local government elections. There was no money raised by any individual, instead, people raised the money by themselves to do what they wanted to do in all the local government areas visited.

“When people saw how truly democratic the PDP was in its operations during the conduct of the council elections, many more people joined the party afterwards. This continued overtime but the democratic values, which we all cherished later degenerated and were replaced by godfatherism, imposition, high-handedness and all manner of undemocratic practices in the party, which is what obtains in the party today even presently.
“But with the emergence of the new national chairman, who was one of the founding members of the PDP, I believe that he and his team will rescue the party and return Nigeria to its rightful place,” Tapgun assured.