Politics
Nigerians to determine our presidential candidate —PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said Nigerians will determine who the party’s presidential candidate will be.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan told Punch, that it decided on this so as to avoid mistakes of the past and accussations of imposition as the case had been in the past.
The race for PDP’s presidential ticket for 2019 got much more interesting in the last two weeks as known political heavyweights with an eye on the presidency joined the party after defecting from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
These include Senate President Bukola Saraki, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso and Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal. Their return to the PDP increased the number of presidential hopefuls in the party, which already had the likes of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, Taminu Turaki, a former minister of special duties and Ibrahim Dankwanbo, a former governor of Bombs State, amongst others.
The party, according to Ologbondiyan, is not backing any of those in line to get its presidential ticket.
“As a party, we have so many candidates already, but Nigerians will determine their next president.
“Nigerians are desirous of change; there is no argument about that. And it is more than obvious that the APC is bent on presenting President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term. The party does not have any other alternative. So, Nigerians desiring change can’t get it in the APC. They are looking at the PDP. We don’t want to disappoint them again.
“There are so many demands in the country now. Some people are agitating for restructuring, some want a leader with experience, not somebody that will get to power and wait for another six months before appointing ministers, some want young people. All of these factors will come to play in selecting our presidential candidate.
“We don’t want the party to be damaged again over allegations of imposition”, Ologbondiyan said.
By Timothy Enietan-Matthew….
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