Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, former Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has described Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the only party that can end the reign of confusion and hardship that currently enveloped the country.
Ugochukwu, who was one-time Special Adviser on Communication to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, spoke in an interview with newsmen in Abeokuta after monitoring the PDP ward congresses held across the 236 wards of Ogun State on Saturday.
The former NDDC boss, said PDP remained the only party that could end the reign of confusion in the country and run the nation’s government better.
He added that Nigerians were eagerly waiting for the return of the party to power in 2019.
Ugochukwu, who is chairman of the state’s Ward Congresses Committee, said the PDP was still formidable and acceptable to the generality of Nigerians in spite of the misgivings in some quarters, saying the peaceful conduct and high turnout at the ward congresses showed that the party was viable for the next general elections.
Ogun State was part of the four South West states which conducted ward congresses under the supervision of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the December 9 National Convention of the PDP slated for Abuja.
The chairman expressed satisfaction with the manner various contending groups within the state chapter were harmonised for participation in the congresses.
He said, “We have to give some credit to the caretaker committee. The tendencies and all that are natural; every political party has people leaning to this way and that way.
“But they’ve been able to come together in the interest of the party to have peaceful congresses and that is a great thing. We are not expecting that everybody would be happy. You probably heard that some people went to court on Friday (to stop the congresses) but the court rejected them.
“Majority of our party people want to come together to end this period of confusion in the country because Nigerians are waiting for us to get our act together to run the government the way it should be run.
“We’ve gone round to some wards, not all of them. From what we saw, we are quite happy with the turnout. It just shows that the PDP is strong. That is why people want to come out and participate. There were no impositions.”
Also speaking, Tunde Odanye, the Chairman, Ogun PDP Caretaker Committee, said Nigerians had hope and confidence in the party.
“You know when things are tough, people always start looking at where lies their hope and I think people are looking at PDP as the alternative; they hope for them for the future. So, the turnout was proof that PDP is alive and well,” he added.
Odanye explained that majority of the rival groups with the Ogun PDP participated in the congresses following successful reconciliatory efforts.
He said, “When I came in, we first analysed what the problems were and we discovered that there were about seven tendencies. We’ve been able to unite five and half. Five are fully on board.
“Half of one – the key person in that one has one foot in another party, of which he is directly related to, so we can’t blame him, while some of his followers are with us. But I also have a feeling that he knows what his followers are doing with us.”
