Anyim: PDP Must Not Repeat the Mistake of 2015

Chuks Okocha and Emameh Gabriel in Abuja

Former Secretary to the Government of Federation (SGF) and Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential aspirant, Senator Pius Anyim, has appealed to the PDP not to repeat the mistake it made that cost the party a fortune at the presidential election in 2015.

This is as he called on members of the party to take advantage of the situation in the country today to return the party to power next year.

Senator Anyim made the appeal yesterday in Abuja during a meeting with zonal leaders of the party from the six geo political zones where he advised that if the PDP was ready to rescue the country, its leadership at the national level must not only toe the line of equity, justice and fairness but also close ranks towards producing its next presidential candidate

The former Senate President also appealed to the party’s zonal excos to remain focused as they could be the deciding factor as to who emerge the party’s flag bearer for next year’s presidential election, adding that his experience at the presidency placed him in a better position to manage the affairs of the country.

He said: “The mistake that we must not make, is the mistake that was made in 2015. In 2015, some of us in the PDP, simply decided to pull out of the PDP and breakdown our members and we were plunged into darkness. That is why we are here. If we are to rescue the country, that is actually the rescinding mission that we have to undertake. 

“For us to rescue this country, we have to reinvent ourselves as a party. We have to first set ourselves on the path of equity, on the path of fairness and on the path of justice. When we set ourselves on this part, then we would be able to lift our country on the pedestrian path where everybody would build on.

“One thing I actually want you to know that is actually the problem that we have today, is that we have not realised that politics is not just a game, that we are playing with the destiny of the people. We have not realised that politics is not just a game but the framework and the only platform under which a nation is built. When nation building becomes a game, you plunge the nation into darkness, and that is what we have today.”

Anyim, who promised to continue from where former President Goodluck Jonathan stopped, solicited the support of PDP’s zonal excos at the meeting, noting that their role might just be the game changer at the end of the day.

This just as he promised, like Goodluck Jonathan did, to draft the best heads to manage the economy.

Anyim continued: “Zonal excos may be the arm and frame that may decide who becomes the next president of this country.

“Please support me, return me to power, let me continue from where Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan stopped. We have a systematic plan to return the country on the path of peace and prosperity.

“All through my public service life, I have always worked under the presidency. I haven’t worked anywhere outside the presidency all my entire career in the public service, even as the President of the Senate, I was working alongside the president and eventually as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which is the engine room of the government.

“When that administration brought back Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, our economy was rebased. When our economy was rebased, Nigerian economy became the largest in Africa. Now where are we?

“There were policies we put in place, there were plans we also tried to put in place, there were policies that also encouraged foreign investors to come into Nigeria. Today where are they?

“These are things you don’t do overnight; these are things you do systematically. And we were planning that in the second term of President Goodluck Jonathan, we would stretch out these plans and policies. Unfortunately, that administration was truncated.

“Support me so that we can set this country again on the path of peace, growth and prosperity.

“What I want you to know today is that the crisis of our nation today, the challenges of our nation, demands a unifier, demands a crisis manager and a stabiliser.

“I will build consensus across board. I will make sure I secure the binding of every component of our polity before I deploy any policy that will make us move forward.

“I will work with you as partners. I will recognise the party as the owner of the government. Like I told the NWC, that I will run the party’s manifesto not my own manifesto. I have laid down my plans and my own personal plan is to give effect to the manifesto of the party.

“It’s the betrayal of people to democracy that brought us this far. When the expectations from what they would get as dividends of democracy failed, that is where people started falling apart,” he said.