| 7 April 2018 | Richard Romanus
"With your mandate I assure you, that all necessary steps will be taken to avoid a repeat of our past mistakes. Indeed we have learnt our lessons and by this convention, we are now set to forge a new path for our great party and Nigeria. Under my watch, internal democracy will be strictly adhered to with a deliberate policy to return 'real' power to the people. No more imposition, no more impunity. Every member of this party can from this moment, consider him or herself, an equal shareholder in our common destiny. I call on all Nigerians, of all creed and class, to embrace this new PDP and join in this quest for a new Nigeria. Particularly, I reach out to our old members who for one reason or the other have left the party, to please come back 'home". Excerpt of Prince Uche Secondus acceptance speech after his election as National Chairman of PDP.
As the race for who gets the people's Democratic Party (PDP) tickets in the various elective positions come 2019 continues to gather momentum, so it has become increasingly necessary to remind the National Chairman and indeed the National leadership of the Party of the promise it made to thousands of party faithfuls last year at the Eagles square,Abuja,to birth and midwife a new PDP.
The truth is, the survival of the Party beyond 2019 depends largely on the Prince Uche Secondus led PDP leadership. Nigerians are eager to see if the party would purge itself of imposition, impunity and all other anti democratic tendencies that was undoubtedly the hallmark of its 16 years rule in Nigeria.
Come 2019,the party must work the talk by ensuring that who gets the party's ticket in all elections gets it not because he or she is a friend to the National Chairman or any member of the NWC,NEC or BOT but because of his popularity and acceptability by the people. It must encourage aspirants seeking for different elective positions to continue to popularise themselves amongst the people and not making Wadata plaza or Rivers State Governors lodge their permanent residential address.
To further proof how ready it is to return real power to the people, the party must ensure that its doors are wide open to all manner of people. Each and every aspirant must be given a sense of belonging while equal and unbiased treatment is also given to all. This will check the rampant name dropping that has characterised the Uche Secondus led PDP where some people now think they are more PDP than the others.
The party must realise that, it is alive today because some committed members stayed back to revive it. It must be conscious of the fact that very few people showed interest in its survival while the party was gasping for breath as a result of the fall out of the 2015 general elections. Inasmuch as I agree that the PDP umbrella is big enough to accommodate the old and returning members, it must also be careful of accommodating fair weather members whose stock in trade is to rock the PDP boat each time they are denied ticket.
The PDP must use the 2019 general elections to inject 'Fresh ideas' by giving it's ticket to people with outstanding pedigree be it in the public or private sector. Forging a new path for Nigeria requires adopting new methods of doing things. The truth of the matter is that,Nigerians are tired of the retrogressive state of our country. Rather than moving forward,the country is going backward and this is largely due to our old time practice of using old people and old method in tackling our challenges.
Come 2019, the PDP must capitalise on the obvious mistakes of the party in power,the All Progressive Congress (APC) by redefining the 'CHANGE' mantra that brought them to power.
The Party can only Change the Change if it changes its mode of selecting candidates for any elective office. Old things must pass away...
Richard Romanus.
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