Former national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Olisa Metuh on Wednesday declared that the outcome of the party’s recent national convention has repositioned it to take over power in 2019.
Metuh in a statement, however urged aggrieved aspirants to join hands with the new party leadership under Prince Uche Secondus to “provide a credible opposition that will continuously provide alternatives and options to the policies and programmes of the ruling party.”
The former party spokesman described Secondus as “a tried and tested hand and proven party administrator with exceptional institutional memory to handle the affairs of our great party.”
He added, “It is incontrovertible that the activities leading to the PDP elective National Convention and the outcome thereof have left no one in doubt that the party has been repositioned to take over power in 2019.”
While underscoring Secondus’ competence for the job, Metuh said, “It is instructive to note that nobody, not even the worst of critics has questioned Prince Secondus’ competence and capacity to lead the party at this critical time.
“This is essentially owing to the well-established fact that the PDP witnessed one of her best moments under Prince Secondus as Acting National Chairman, during which time a lot of reforms were articulated and implemented.
“It is in that regard that I join our party leaders and other notable stakeholders to congratulate our National Chairman whose victory derived not only from his track record of proven service to our party but also from his very robust and issue-based campaign across all the states and zones of the federation.
“To other aspirants who did not have the opportunity of being elected, it must be understood that the outcome of the election does not in anyway detract from their credibility and their qualification for offices. What is needed now is for them to join hands with the new leadership to reposition the PDP for the task ahead.”
He added that while PDP embraced the zoning principle, Metuh noted that the cardinal principle of the party and the underlying vision of its founding fathers remains the promotion of competence and merit.
He said, “All that is now needed is to implement the burning desire and yearnings by Nigerians for a credible opposition that will continuously provide alternatives and options to the policies and programmes of the ruling party.
“It is therefore needful that we all join the Prince Uche Secondus-led NWC in the collective task of rebuilding our great party and ensuring success in the quest to regain our lost glory.”
