A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Special Adviser to the former Kwara State Governor Alhaji AbdulFatai Ahmed, on Agriculture & Rural Water Support Services, Otunba Anu Ibiwoye has assured kwarans that, PDP will take over power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) come 2023.
Otunba Anu in an interview with the pressmen in Ilorin on Thursday, said every government has an impact on its people but the new government in the state wanted a departure which they dubbed ‘O To Ge’ and now people have seen the differences in terms of what they are experiencing now in the hands of the APC-led administration in the state.
Otunba noted that building PDP as a party is paramount to him because the party serves as a vehicle that conveys people to their destinations.
He stressed that his experience in politics since 2011 when he ran for Senate has made him realise that the success of the party is more important than any individual aspirations.
“Immediately after the 2015 election, coming from the defeat that the party has suffered, as an individual, I have spent more of my time concentrating on building a party that is strong, united, focused and that can win elections.” he explained.
Otunba said, no matter what the aspirations of people are, if they don’t have a party that can support or push the aspirations then it is worth nothing.
He, however, said he is more interested in building the party that can go to an election and win, stating that when the party wins then everybody would have one or two roles to play and that is his own aspiration for now.
Speaking about APC toxic policies with the magnitude of corruption that has destroyed the economy of the country under Buhari’s administration, the PDP Chieftain explained that the indicators and analysis are in the public domain, even when the former President, Goodluck Jonathan was in power if compared to the APC regime, noting that Nigeria is not better off from where we are then and where we were now, and that as matter of fact we are worst.
“We are talking about one hundred and fifty naira a dollar during Jonathan, now five hundred and seventy naira per dollar. And look at the prices of foodstuffs, electricity and fuel. Everything has skyrocketed. No masses can afford all such things.”
“The major indices is that the APC government has not done anything and the president is weak to pilot the affairs of this country. A lot of people have realised now that APC has nothing to offer.”
“Moving forward is what our party is about now as you can see, PDP are re-engineering from the national to the state levels. We’ve done our Congresses rancor-free and look at the qualities of people that obtained positions in the state nothing alike imposition. These people were elected based on their antecedent and pedigree.”
Otunba also said, “Consensus building is a process to be managed rather than going to an election and somebody loses, which at the end it will be more difficult to bring those people together after the election. Meanwhile, consensus does not mean imposition, that’s what drives PDP, and managing the aftermath is more seamless.
“From all indicators, as a party we are rebranding, building structures and we’ve been doing our reconciliation since we lost the last elections. We are also building our membership base and we just set up our data center. It shows you that PDP is vigorously working hard to take over power from APC,” he said.
“But in APC whether they are doing direct or indirect primaries, we can see the confusion that has happened in all of the APC states across the country and thirteen of their states are almost in court based on the Congresses they have done.”
Otunba Anu Ibiwoye also declared their support for the presidential aspiration of the former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
“I’m very optimistic that PDP will wrestle power from APC come 2023, and we are not going to take a chance as we did in 2015. By every stretch of the imagination, Dr. Bukola Saraki is capable of becoming Nigeria president.”
“Without sounding biased, looking at Saraki credentials, he started as special assistant to the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo. From that angle, he has an idea of how to get works. He was an Executive Governor for two terms, doubled as chairman of the Governors’ forum. He has both legislative and executive experience.”
“Saraki has the exposure and capacity, if you also look at his exposure internationally, he has connections across the globe and it will be a plus for Nigerians if he becomes the next president because he can lead the country. Meanwhile, he has demonstrated the capacity as a party man, also as a legislator and as a governor,” Otunba Ibiwoye concluded.
