Former Finance Minister, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not lose the 2015 presidential election neither did the All Progressives Congress (APC) win it.
Ciroma said this in Abuja on Monday while receiving members of PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) led by its Chairman, Senator Jibrin Walid.
According to him, in spite of the fact that the Federal Government is being led by the APC, the PDP is dominating political discourse.
He said: “Just before the last elections and when we saw the trend of events, I warned members of the PDP to prepare itself for whatever eventuality that may come.
“Today, PDP didn’t lose and APC didn’t win because APC has a lot to do.
“When you talk about politics, you talk about PDP. When you talk of politics, people talk about PDP as If APC does not exist. So far, APC is not playing the right role.’’
Noting that any party that got into power must make mistakes, the elder statesman advised fellow party members to prepare ahead of the 2019 elections, “especially as the APC will continue to make mistakes’’.
He challenged PDP members to play positive roles in politics as there would always be several parties, hence, they must learn to make the masses the centrepiece of their developmental projects.
“Politics will always be there,’’ he said, adding that “there must be good and bad people who participate in it.
“Everybody who participates in politics does so for good cause and that good cause is of the interest and political stability of all Nigerians.
“There will not be one party; there will always be one political party or the others.
“I insist that people must play the rightful role in politics and that role is to promote the interest of the poor masses.
“Anybody can make a mistake. The beauty of it is that every party that has a chance to rule has the chance to make mistakes.
“APC will make a lot of mistakes and the PDP must be ready to put things right and all of you must be ready to contribute, participate and get involved for the interests of ordinary Nigerians.’’
Earlier in his address, Walid said that the visit was “part of strategies mapped-out to visit well-recognized founding fathers and leaders of the PDP to tap from their advice on the way forward for the party.
“We promise you that we shall remain the conscience of our party,’’ he assured.
Members of the BoT on the entourage included former President of the Senate, Adolphus Wabara, former Deputy President of the Senate, Ibrahim Mantu and Prof. Jerry Gana.
