Tag: Win

Hon Rima Shawulu Kwewum, a ranking member of the House of Representatives on Friday said it’s only the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP that can decide its fate, and decide to win or lose the 2023 general elections in Nigeria.

Shawulu Kwewum who made this assertion in a chat with TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) barely 24hours to the party’s convention on Saturday noted that:

“If PDP wants to remain relevant it needs to refocus and embrace talents within the party to renergise it and position itself for victory in 2023 general elections.

Hear him: “There is a future for PDP and the future for PDP depends on what PDP leaders and members want to do.

“The fact of the matter is that the times that we are in now, the current situation we have in the country, the nature of the economy downturn, the large scale insecurity that we have in the country, the fact that most government institutions are not working, all lend to the need for a change of government.

“Now if you look, all indices of human development, have become lower, giving the impression that we have been regressing, as a matter of fact, not just impression; the reality is that we have regressed and we are still regressing.

“If you look at the mood of the public, the public is looking for change, in almost every part of the country the public is no longer interested in what the government is saying because the gap between what the current government says it wants to do and what has happened is widening; and as at today there is no magic that the government can do to be able to get out of the situation that it has found itself.

“And so this election that is coming is a choice for PDP to lose or to win; PDP can decide to win, or decide to lose and that is why for me it is important that the convention that is coming up now goes smoothly, the new leaders that will emerge and the new leaders that are emerging pay attention to, reconciling aggrieved party members, warring party members and give the party the focus it has lacked since 2019.

“It appears to me that as regrettable as the loss of election in 2015 was, the party took steps to redeem itself.

“In the National Assembly the party took over the Senate and the House of Representatives and at the administrative level, the party decided to put pressure on the Chairman who led the party to defeat, that is Adamu Muazu, to resign and that was how Uche Secondus came in as acting Chairman and later became the National Chairman.

“The mistake the party made was that after Secondus led the party to a disastrous outing in 2019, it should have prevailed on him to resign from his position so that the party will reorganize.

“Be that as it may be, it is better late than never. Now that the convention has come, it is important that those that are interested in the leadership of the party refocus the party because so far, since 2019, PDP has not been behaving as an opposition party. It has been complacent and still behaves as if it is in power.

“And that is why if you look at various state chapters, if you look at some of the organs of the party, they have been more or less sleeping; power has been ceded to certain forums and the power is not residing within the party itself.

“So if the party refocuses itself, gives every party member a chance, creates the room for talents to emerge, for talents to shine within the party, we may have a chance to take over government and perhaps stop Nigeria from going down the brink, the way it has been predicted over the years.

Asked whether what he is implying is PDP has to decide its own fate, Shawulu said” Yes, as far as the mood of the public is concerned, the only way PDP can lose election will be for PDP leaders, the new party officials decide to behave the way the previous leadership of the party has behaved.

“Three things are important; first the challenge of reconciliation, the challenge of inclusiveness, the challenge of internal democracy and the challenge of having a focus on what to do.

“For instance, my opinion is that the power and the face of any political party in a democratic party system is the presence of the party in the National Assembly or parliament.

“You will notice very clearly that from 2019 till date, the party appears in reality or in perception to be absent in the National Assembly.

“So if the party and its cadre and members of the National Assembly are not canvassing alternative opinions within and outside the chambers, in committee meetings and in press conferences, if they are not charting a new course for people to follow, telling alternative stories and giving people alternative pathways then the people have nothing to look up to.

“And that is why party leadership all over the world don’t take what happens in the parliament carelessly. In the United Kingdom some members of the conservative party went against their party position, all of them were thrown out of the party.

And if you recall that, when the APC had a challenge in 2015 in the National Assembly, it did not forgive the party members who went against it.

“The leadership of the APC in the senate was not recognized and was not invited for any APC meetings till the leadership was changed, that is how seriously party take what happens in the National Assembly.

“It is unfortunate that in Nigeria, from the time that Tambuwal was the speaker of the House of Representatives and in 2019 the persons who rebelled against the party were tolerated by the party and that is one of the reasons why PDP lost the 2015 general elections and has been struggling since then.

“The flagrant disobedience to party instructions in 2019 has had a devastating impact on the persons of the party in the perception of Nigerians.

“So I think what the new leadership needs to do is to work seriously on the issue on reconciliation so that the party can function well.

“You will notice that not much is happening in the National Assembly for the PDP, compared to what, for instance, Femi Gbajabiamila did when he was a minority leader in the House of Representatives.