September 17, (THEWILL) – The main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), recently celebrated its 25th year of existence and declared that the 16 years the party was in power were the golden years for Nigeria and Nigerians.
Looking back to its creation in 1998, PDP leaders said they were very proud of the party and what it achieved in the last 25 years.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, said the party decided on a low-key celebration as, according to him, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had “frittered away all the progress the PDP made in 16 years within eight years.”
“Today, the PDP celebrates the resilience of Nigerians in the democratic process and particularly the founding leaders and teeming members of our party for their sacrificial roles in returning, nurturing and sustaining democracy in our country.”
“The belief that power resides with the people is at the core of PDP’s sustained focus on guaranteeing the rule of law, adherence to the principle of separation of powers, personal freedom of citizens, a free press, credible electoral process, liberalisation of the economy, vast infrastructural development, massive employment and business opportunities, among other initiatives that made the PDP years in government the Nigerian Golden Years.
“The PDP administration guaranteed a stable economy that boosted domestic and international investors’ confidence in all sectors, grew the Nigeria Stock Exchange into one of the most profitable in the world, achieved food security through massive investment in agriculture with increased the purchasing power of citizens, which ranked Nigeria as a major development hub with Fitch BB rating under the PDP administration.
“Sadly, all the gains achieved by the PDP have been rolled back by the APC, which in a space of eight years, wrecked our economy and turned our nation into the poverty capital of the world with a frightening 35 per cent unemployment rate, where hunger, starvation, strange diseases and sudden deaths now ravage our citizens.
“Under the watch of the vicious, corrupt and incompetent APC, major multinational companies are exiting Nigeria; the Naira has fallen from N197 to US$1 under the PDP to abysmal over N900 to US$1; petrol, which sold at N87 per liter by 2015, now sells for over N600 per litre. This is in addition to multiple harsh tariffs, taxes and levies imposed on citizens by the APC administration.
“Life in Nigeria under the APC has become very unbearable, such that Nigerians are now resorting to suicide and slavery abroad as options.
“The APC came to power through the instrument of lies and propaganda and seeks to sustain its hold with violence, intimidation, manipulation and election rigging.
“Nevertheless, the PDP urges Nigerians not to lose confidence in the nation but remain hopeful as our party continues to lead the charge for a country where the Will of the people prevails.”
Former Vice President and the 2023 presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, congratulated his party for attaining 25 years and impacting positively on Nigeria’s socio-economic and political landscape.
Atiku said, “The PDP is the progenitor of our contemporary democracy and therefore, the party shall ensure that democracy does not only survive in Nigeria, but that the country thrives through it.”
According to Atiku, “being one of the founding fathers of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party, I take great pride in having participated in the process of nurturing the party from infancy to a deliberate agency of socio-political and economic development in Nigeria.
“In the 16 years that the PDP was at the helm of affairs in our country, the party offered quality leadership through various administrations and the achievements recorded in those 16 years have remained the benchmark for positive growth in our economy and other critical areas of our national life.
“Of course, the PDP took a leading role in the deconstruction of military rule in Nigeria and the peculiarities of our contemporary experiences both within Nigeria and other countries in Africa demand that the PDP should, once again, rise to the occasion in cancelling the economic hardship and other structural deficiencies that directly bear negatively on our people in the past eight and half years.
“I have every confidence that the PDP will bounce back to give Nigerians a responsive government,” Atiku said.
Also speaking with THEWILL, a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, said it has been 25 years of experiences.
“We have been to the topmost mountain in Nigeria and we have also rolled back to the bottom of a deep valley to be in opposition,” he said.
George commended the founding fathers of the party, saying “I joined politics because of the tenets that I read about this party. And I am happy to tell you that the PDP is the first political party in Nigeria that has the full colours of our nation, from the Swampy region to the Savannah in the North.
“What did the founding fathers do? I remember a few of them. Late Chief Bola Ige was a founding father of the PDP. He attended the first meeting. You know what they did. They sat in the same room with Dr Alex Ekwueme. Can you imagine that? With Papa Jim Nwobodo. Then Papa Solomon Lar sat with Alhaji Adamu Ciroma in the same room to discuss political union. They tried. When about 14 of them met. They sat and asked, ‘What are these mitigating factors that have been preventing our nation from growing?’ They said, ‘Look, the majority always have their ways and their say while the minority are only onlookers. We can’t be in an association where only one man will be the leader and others will just be following him’. That is why they decided to divide Nigeria into six geopolitical zones. And they came up with six top positions: President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker of House of Representatives, Secretary to the Government and National Chairman of the party. So, each one of these positions will go to each zone and everybody will go home with something.
“That was how we started it in 1998. Everybody went home with satisfaction. There was a proviso: After eight years, all positions in the North will go to the South and all positions in the South will go to the North. We will be rotating. So that one day the minority will be president in Nigeria. You can’t imagine that in 1960 that a minority will one day become the president of Nigeria. That was how the party started”.
On the future of the party, George said “We will bounce back. Like I said we can disagree, but we should not be disagreeable. We have learnt our lessons. Let’s get together. Let us get a management team that will be fair to all. After the Supreme Court, we can say let us meet, let us move forward. I don’t think it is still late for us to meet. We can still get together. We don’t want it to go the ANPP way”.
While speaking on the 25th anniversary of the PDP, former National Chairman, of the party, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, said it would mark its Silver Jubilee with joy, saying the party had reason to celebrate.
Baraje described the 16 years of PDP in governance as unforgettable and one to be remembered by Nigerians when they compare it to eight years of the APC.
“It was 16 years of unbroken democracy, revitalised economy and hope coming back to the country. There is a lot to celebrate; the past eight years by the APC in power can be compared with the 16 years of the PDP. And the difference is clear. Nigerians are now suffering. They could not eat well. Nigeria which was the giant of Africa under PDP is now the Poverty Capital of the World,” Baraje said.
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