The National Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has pledged that his party would no longer impose candidates in the election of candidates to run on its platform in future elections, as long as he was the national chairman.
Tukur made this statement over the weekend in Enugu at a town-hall meeting with stakeholders of the party in the South East, including the governors of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime; Ebonyi State, Martin Elechi and Abia State, Theodore Orji, represented by his deputy, Chief Ananaba, members of the national and state assemblies, ministers, among others.
He was of the opinion that gone were the days politicians hand-picked candidates for the party, stressing that time had come for the party to be properly rebuilt in order to ensure equity and justice.
He identified what he described as “sharing formula” as the major challenge facing the party and urged the stakeholders to embrace peace and harmony as well as imbibe the spirit of sacrifice as that was the only way the party could retain its status as a truly national party that respects the yearnings and aspirations of the people.
“We have come here today to appeal to you to forget your differences. Let PDP win elections through reconciliation and understanding. We must ensure equity and justice in all our actions. We must be our brothers’ keepers.
“We must allow people to choose who they want. Party will henceforth give tickets based on the wishes of the party owners who, of course, are the people. It is one man, one vote. By the time, you aggregate the votes, you see that our party will continue to win and win,” he noted.
Tukur also pledged his readiness to make the much needed sacrifice in the interest of the progress of the party and said that party supremacy must be respected at all times as the PDP remained the only political platform that would unite the country and take it to Eldorado.
He said Nigeria had been greatly blessed by God with all the natural endowments, adding that what the nation needed most in order to sail through its myriads of challenges were the right attitudes, education and empowerment, among others.