PDP is one election away from taking over power at the 

centre -Wike

REMARKS BY CHIEF (BARR.) NYESOM EZENWO WIKE, GOVERNOR OF RIVERS STATE ON THE OCCASION OF THE RETREAT BY THE FORUM OF THE PDP NATIONAL ASSSEMBLY MEMBERS-ELECT HOLDING IN PORT HARCOURT ON THE FIRST OF JUNE 2015 AT HOTEL PRESIDENTIAL PORT HARCOURT

Protocols,
It gives me great pleasure to be the Chief host of this retreat being organized for the newly elected members of the National Assembly from our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

2. Let me heartily welcome, each and every one of you to Port Harcourt, the garden city and capital of Rivers State. As you may all know, Rivers State was until two days ago an All Peoples Congress (APC) controlled state, although this was by default. But, to God be the glory, the PDP has successfully reclaimed it for the good of the people.

3. Also, let me use this opportunity to congratulate all of you for emerging victorious as elected representatives of your constituencies in the National Assembly on the platform of our party.

4. I am glad to note that you have since done with your orientation programmes and, therefore, already familiar with the norms and operational mechanics of legislative institutions. This means that you are all ready to discharge your electoral mandates to the people. I am also sure you are happy and proud with the PDP for given you such a priceless platform to become part of the distinguished political class in the country. I wish you all good luck but not too much luck. Because it is up to you to work hard and justify the confidence our party and your constituencies have so graciously reposed in you.

5. I am convinced that today’s retreat is not just one of the common events that take place in the formative weeks of new governments. As it is clear from the theme, the purpose of this retreat is to prepare our elected members from the PDP on their roles and expectations in consolidating good governance in Nigeria as opposition members of the National Assembly.

6. It is therefore very important that you give this meeting all the importance it deserves and benefit from the impressive array of resource persons that are here to expose you to the mechanics of being effective opposition legislators in our democracy. I wish to thank and commend the organizers for their truthfulness in organizing this special retreat and, in the course, helping to advance the corporate interest of our party, the PDP, as it prepares to take on its new role as an opposition party.

7. You will all agree with me that our party just experienced its worst electoral defeat since 1999 and emerged badly bruised. In one electoral plunge we lost power both at the centre and in 20 out of 29 contested States. Naturally, we should and indeed, are all disappointed. But that is the beauty of democracy – the will of the people is supreme. What is most consoling was that Nigerians reaffirmed their faith in the majesty of our democratic process and demonstrated to the entire world that democracy has come to stay and will stay forever.

8. Yes, the APC has every reason to revel over its hard won but unimaginable victory. Nevertheless, no one can honestly deny the PDP its due credit for successfully nurturing, stabilizing and consolidating Nigeria’s democracy to heights never imagined in country’s checkered political history. Therefore, rather than bemoan our present fate, we should all hold our heads high as members of this great PDP family and be proud of the party’s un-matched and indomitable achievements in the political and socio-economic re-engineering of Nigeria within a short period of 16 years.

9. Friends, it is true a new reality has dawn on all of us and on the PDP. Power has changed hands and our party is now the official opposition at the Centre and in most of the constituent States. But as democrats and patriots there is really nothing to worry about the new status of our party, as the foremost opposition party in Nigeria.

10. In the first instance, we truly do not have any choice other than to play this role that has naturally fallen on our party effectively as possible. That is what Nigerians and indeed, the entire world expects of the PDP or it risks disintegration from the country’s political space. Furthermore, to do otherwise is to repudiate the value and necessity of having a vibrant and vigilant opposition as the heart of our democracy and encourage the emergence of dictatorship and bad governance.

11. Fortunately, the PDP is not just one of the numerous spineless parties that ascribe the word ‘opposition’ to themselves. The PDP is the only truly alternative opposition party to the ruling APC party. This means that the PDP is just one election away from taking over power at the center and in all other States it is currently relegated.

12. While this may sound simplistic, the fact is that in a democracy being in opposition also carries considerable responsibility. Inherent in this privilege is the responsibility to hold the government of APC at all levels accountable to their numerous and extravagant promises. This is the only way to facilitate governance and electoral benefits to the people. Certainly, Nigerians will judge the APC, not on what they have promised, but on what they are able to actually deliver. So, for us in the PDP, it will be interesting to see the APC struggles to excuse or rationalize its failure to implement these bogus and unrealistic promises it has deceitfully put before the public domain when put to task by Nigerians led by the PDP in active opposition.

13. We all know that apart from the party hierarchy, the PDP has elected representatives as members of the National Assembly, Governors and members of the State House of Assemblies with inherent electoral responsibilities to live up to the expectations of Nigerians. Accordingly, while acting in opposition, the PDP will equally be judged by the people by the same measures as the APC. We dare not lose sight of this fact.

14. Therefore, the strength and character of the of the performance of the PDP in opposition will be defined to a large extent by the degree of hard work, forthrightness, integrity, unity of purpose and justice we bring to bear in the discharge of our respective representative roles as party leaders, governors, legislators and members of the party.

15. Against this background, the pivotal role and relevance of members of the PDP in the National Assembly in driving and sustaining PDP’s enlightened self-interest as a party in opposition with its eyes optimistically set at regaining political power at the centre in 2019 is unassailable.

16. In conclusion therefore, my personal advice to you is that you can contribute to making the PDP an effective, vibrant and vigilant opposition party capable of driving the actualization of the collective hopes and aspirations of our people for a brighter and prosperous future by adopting a pragmatic approach to your duties and ensuring that no single agenda of the Federal Government escapes your thorough scrutiny before it is allowed to scale through using the wellbeing and progress of Nigerians as your bench-mark.

17. We currently have a Federal Government that has promised new levels of accountability, transparency and service delivery. It is your individual and collective duty to join the PDP hierarchy and other stakeholders, including civil society organizations and the labour unions to hold it to account on its numerous and unrestrained promises.
Finally, I wish to emphasize the point that every reality has its own questions and answers for these questions. We may all be familiar with the political goals of our party. But it is only a united party that can drive these goals to fruition. We cannot achieve anything with a party that is disunited. Unity is our strength and must remain the basic foundational principle of the PDP. It is clear, especially from the circumstances of the present reality that, our party requires unity under a secure leadership now than ever before, going forward. As leaders in our respective cadres we all bear responsibility to ensure that the PDP is truly united. We must be vigilant against opportunism and the tendency to cause divisions among us by those who lack the discipline to subject themselves to party lines because of their ego or ambition. Furthermore, the leadership of the PDP at all levels must also remain one and united because the strength of the party is in their unity.

18. While wishing you a very successful retreat, please feel free to take some time out to enjoy the hospitality of Rivers people.

Thank you for your attention and may God bless the PDP.