Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, on Friday, congratulated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on its 25th anniversary while affirming the Party will recover its losses.
In a statement issued by his media office, PDP’s 2023 presidential candidate, said the party will bounce back and provide a “responsive” government for Nigerians.
According to him the party has had a positive impact on the nation’s socio-economic and political development.
He described the PDP as a “progenitor” of Nigeria’s democracy, saying the party will ensure that democracy not only survives but continues to thrive.
Atiku furthered that he takes pride in being one of the founding members of the PDP and participating in the process of nurturing the party from infancy.
“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,” Abubakar was quoted as saying.
Abubakar said the PDP took a “leading role in the deconstruction” of military rule in Nigeria, promising that the party would rise to tackle the economic hardship and other structural deficiencies affecting Nigerians.
Note that the PDP which was founded in 1998 won the presidential election four times and was defeated in 2015 by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party is facing several challenges, including internal divisions and declining popularity.
Abubakar and the PDP are currently contesting the outcome of the 2023 presidential election at the tribunal.
Meanwhile the Party says life has become undesirable under the administration of the APC-led government.
The main opposition party in a statement celebrating its anniversary, said under its 16 years in power, “the country witnessed economic transformation which APC has now derailed. ”
According to the PDP, it remains the only broad-based, all-embracing pan-Nigerian political party “birthed on the principles of national unity, freedom, social justice, development and overall wellbeing of citizens which over the years stands steadfast to its democratic ideology of good governance and citizens’ participation in political leadership.”
“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 statement signed by Debo Ologunagba, the PDP spokesperson, read.
“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, liberalization 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 purchasing power of citizens which ranked Nigeria as a major development hub with Fitch BB rating under the PDP administration.”
Ologunagba further alleged that all the gains achieved by the PDP have been “rolled back by the APC in a space of eight years.”
“Life in Nigeria under the APC has become very unbearable such that Nigerians are now resorting to suicide and slavery mission abroad as options,” he added.
The PDP however urged Nigerians not to lose confidence in the nation but rather remain hopeful.
