Iyorchia Ayu has been sworn in as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Ayu and 20 other members of the national working committee (NWC) were inaugurated into office on Friday in Abuja.
In his acceptance speech, Ayu said his NWC will work in consultation with party members to reclaim power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.
He said the event marks a new journey and direction for the PDP and he will work to “reinvigorate, reinvent and reposition” the party.
“Our task at this auspicious moment is to return the party to the people. But to do that, the party needs to be reinvigorated, reinvented and repositioned. We are not unmindful of our missed steps and actions in the past, but we have learnt our lessons, both in government and in opposition. Today, we stand tall, and with a firm resolve to rebuild our great party and rescue our nation,” he said.
“The PDP is the only organic political party in Nigeria that has remained a credible, tested, tasted and trusted mass movement since the return of democracy in 1999. Other political parties have either fizzled away or merged with others.
“Some have mutated into a contraption like the ruling APC without any clear ideology or a coherent programme of action. This contraption seduced Nigerians with propaganda in 2015. Today, Nigerians have seen the limit of propaganda and demagoguery. The only thing the APC is doing successfully is irresponsible borrowing.
“But I stand here today, not to merely recount APC’s spectacular failures. I stand here to assure you that PDP is back to rescue and rebuild Nigeria. Under the new NWC, PDP will strengthen its internal democratic processes. We shall endeavour to reach out to all party members, young and old, male and female.”
Ayu said the NWC will actively engage the youths and women for advocacy, policy formulation and the design of new development in the party.
“On behalf of the new NWC, I pledge to be guided by consultation, teamwork, internal democracy and national interest. To all non-PDP members, we say our umbrella can accommodate all of us,” he said,
The NWC was elected in October after Uche Secondus, former national chairman of the party, was suspended.
TheCable reported how crisis rocked the party under Secondus’ watch and multiple court orders resulted in his removal from office.
