The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has said that contrary to speculation, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not opposed to the success of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ekweremadu, however, said the opposition PDP was packaging programmes and projects that resonate well with Nigerians to attract their support ahead of 2019.
The deputy Senate president said this yesterday during an interview on Raypower Radio’s Political Platform, monitored in Abuja.
According to the PDP chieftain, although the opposition party was still coming to terms with its shocking defeat at the last general elections, efforts to restructure the party have reached advanced stage.
“We have good programmes and message for Nigeria ahead of 2019”, he said.
“Let me also make this clear. As PDP, we are Nigerians and we love Nigeria as well. We are not going to hinge our return on the failure of APC. Certainly, we want APC to succeed.
“We are going to hinge our return on superior argument, superior vision and better ideas to run Nigeria. So, that is the basic thing. We would like APC to succeed for the interest of Nigeria. But, we believe we would do much better than them if given another opportunity”, he added.
Ekweremadu, as the deputy Senate president, is the highest ranking PDP member in government at the moment.
The deputy Senate president attributed the PDP’s embarrassing loss in 2015 to the APC to the emergence of camps in the party.
“We are trying to recover from that shock and close some of the gaps”.
Asked how he fares as opposition party member in the APC-led Senate, Ekweremadu said the Constitution allows any legislator, irrespective of party membership, to be elected as presiding officer.
“Under our Constitution, the senators, just like the House of Reps members and other parliamentarians, are entitled to elect their presiding officers, irrespective of party affiliation.
“There is no book that says presiding officers must come from the party with majority. The most important thing is that somebody is accepted by his colleagues”.
