Makinde: Nigerians looking up to PDP, we’ll fix party to fix Nigeria

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde says the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will do everything within its power to fix the party and Nigeria.

Makinde said this at the inauguration of the Board of Governors and the unveiling of the Roadmap for Peoples Democratic Institute (PDI) in Abuja on Thursday, November 7, 2024.

PDI is the research arm of the PDP established in 2000 to promote a new democratic culture in Nigeria and Africa through the provision of value-added education, training, capacity building, research, and documentation programmes.

Makinde said: “We will fix PDP and then PDP will fix Nigeria, which will be the basis of real hope for the people of Nigeria.

“As we approach 2027, it is clear that the PDP has to provide real hope for Nigeria. By revitalising the PDI that real hope is being provided for our people.

“Our country needs direction. Nigerians are looking up to the PDP to provide an ideological foundation.”

Makinde said with the inauguration of the board, the PDP was moving a step closer to defining the ideology it stood for.

The governor urged politicians and leaders who were given the opportunity to serve to always ask themselves what they want to be remembered for.

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He pledged his commitment to strengthening the country’s democracy and the PDP, saying: “From 2019, I’ve been benefitting from PDP. So, I want to say thank you to our great party, and all the stakeholders gathered here today, for giving me the opportunity to get not one, but two mandates, back to back, under this umbrella.

“The only thing I can promise you is that, since I fetched water from that well, and I have been drinking since 1999, I will not pollute the well when it is time for me to exit that office.”

Makinde also urged PDP leaders, members, and stakeholders to go into the November 16 Ondo governorship election united and resist any attempt to truncate the election.

Makine added that the PDP needed true reconciliation and unity to wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State.

In his remarks, former Senate President Bukola Saraki emphasised the need to jointly build the PDP, saying parties are built on ideas, philosophies, and policies.

Saraki enjoined PDP members to move away from building ideas on self or ambition, ahead of the 2027 general election.

The former governor of Kwara State said: “We cannot have an ambition if we don’t have a party. We cannot have a party if we don’t have ideas. This is where it starts from. This is the foundation that is important.

“Let us desist from talking about who is running for councillors, or who is running for governor, or who is running for president in 2027.

“Let us talk about what is PDP. What does PDP represent? These are the issues and policies that we must take into account.”

The Star