- As party woos founding fathers
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Former Minister of Finance and an elder statesman, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, has advised the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stop lamenting its woos but to try and to take advantage of the mistakes of the APC-led administration as it prepares for the next general election in 2019.
Ciroma who is also a former Central Bank Governor and one of the founding fathers of the PDP, told a delegation of the Board of Trustee (BoT) of the opposition party led by its Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin, who came to his house to seek his advise, that they should begin to see their role in politics as service to humanity.
“Today, PDP didn’t lose and APC didn’t win because APC has a lot to do as when you talk about politics you talk about PDP. When you talk of politics people talk about PDP as if APC does not exist. So far, APC is not playing the right role. APC will make a lot of mistake and PDP must be ready to put things right and all of you must be ready to contribute, participate and to get involved in governance for the interest of ordinary Nigerians, “ he said.
Ciroma, who along with his wife, Inua Ciroma, received the BoT delegation comprising, former Deputy Senate Presidents, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Senator Adolphus Wagbara and former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana, Taminu Turaki and Senator Stella Omu also advised politicians in the country to always play rightful roles in politics.
The politician who withdrew from active politicking in PDP before the 2015 general election due to some personal issues, regretted that he had forewarned the party of imminent dangers ahead but that his wise counsel was not heeded.
“Just before the last election and when we saw the trend of event, I warned members of the PDP to prepare itself for whatever eventuality that may come but they did not listen and they lost.
“Everybody who participates in politics must do so for a good course, for economic benefit and political stability of ordinary Nigerians. There will always be more than one party and the beauty of democracy is that everyone who has chance to rule should be given chance to make his mistakes.
“I insist that people must play the rightful role in politics and that role is to promote the interest of the poor masses. Anybody can make a mistake. The beauty of it is that every party that has a chance to rule has the chance to make mistakes,” he said.
The BoT chairman, Jibrin, said that as part of the party’s efforts at ensuring better cohesion among its leadership and members it last week paid a solidarity visit to the Senate Caucus where it prevailed on its members not take part in the alleged impeachment moves against President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said the party considers the rouse being made by the APC over the election of Senator Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President as purely unwarranted.
Senator Jibrin however cautioned against external interferences in the going-on at the National Assembly, adding that such a move would only serve to over-heat the polity.
Jerry Gana who extolled the qualities and contributions of Ciroma to the formation of the PDP pleaded with him not to abandon the party but to rejoined his political family and help in the march to retake power come 2019.
In his remark, Mantu recounted some of the lofty ideals that led to the formation of the PDP in 1998 and regretted that the party have failed to realize most of the dreams and values of itsfounding fathers.
He said that the PDP is learning a hard lesson from its past mistakes, adding that “ there is every reason to believe that the party is now ready to chat a new course in order to correct what has gone wrong in the country.”
