Abuja — AHEAD of the 2027 general elections, former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki and Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, yesterday, urged stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to unite and fix the party and fix Nigeria.
Senator Saraki and Governor Makinde said this during the inauguration and unveiling of the Board of Governors of the Peoples Democratic Institute, PDI, in Abuja.
The governor of Oyo State, in his remarks, noted that Nigerians now know the difference between having the PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, on the saddle at the national level.
His words: "As we approach 2027, it is clear that the PDP has to provide real hope for Nigeria. And by revitalizing the PDI, that real hope is being provided for our people.
"Our country needs direction. Nigerians are looking up to the PDP to provide an ideological foundation.
"A lot has been said about PDI, how it came to be by former Governor Okwesilieze Nwodo, and also others that have had an interaction with the PDI.
"But the question I will ask is, what will you want to be remembered for? This is a question that every politician who's had the opportunity to serve at any capacity in our great nation should ask themselves because players will come and go.
"The situation is so dynamic, but you have to be remembered for something.
"So with the inauguration of the PDI Board of Governors, and unveiling of the PDI roadmap by the DG, Dr Edward, the PDP is moving a step closer to defining the ideology that the party stands for, and cementing what the party as a whole will want to be remembered for. This is the essence and the significance of today.
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"For me also, from 2019, I've been benefitting from PDP. So, I want to say thank you to our great party, and all the stakeholders gathered here today, for allowing me to get not one, but two mandates, back to back, under this umbrella.
"The only thing I can promise you is that, since I fetched water from that well, and I have been drinking since 2019 I will not pollute the well when it's my time to exit that office.
"The PDP is the only party in Nigeria that has allowed the youth to be part of a political institution, and I do know that the PDI will only expand that space.
"I'm getting old myself. Not too old. I'm still very youthful at heart, my mind and body also are still youthful.
"The PDP can and will do everything in its power to fix Nigeria. We can fix Nigeria. We'll fix PDP and then PDP will fix Nigeria. And that will be the basis of real hope for the people of Nigeria."
We must rebuild PDP before 2027--Saraki
Speaking in a similar vein, Senator Saraki said: "We've built this party. Parties are built on ideas, philosophies and policies.
"Let us move away from building ideas on self, on ambition. We cannot have an ambition if we don't have a party.
"We cannot have a party if we don't have ideas. This is where it starts from. This is an important foundation.
"Let us desist from talking about who is running for councillor, or who is running for governor, or who is running for president in 2027."
