Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd)
on Saturday in Minna, said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) remains the
strongest party in Africa, adding that the current crisis is a test for the
party.
Babangida is optimistic that PDP would overcome its crisis
and come out of it stronger.
The former president’s position contrasts with the
submission by former president Olusegun Obasanjo that the party on which
platform he ruled the nation for eight years was dead.
Babangida spoke at his Hilltop home when the Professor Jerry
Gana-led Committee on Strategy and Inter-Party Affairs came to brief him as one
of the founding fathers of the PDP on the committee’s findings.
According to him, “the PDP remains the only acceptable party
to Nigerians at all levels regardless of religious or tribal affiliations. It’s
the most acceptable party to the people.”
“I believe when the party overcomes this challenge, it has
the capacity to rule the country for the next 60 years,” Babangida stressed,
adding that the PDP had been accepted from the top to bottom because its
presence had been felt and accepted by the people for 16 years.
“From formation stage, I saw the PDP as IRA (Irish
Republican Army). We are the military wing of the PDP.
“We took a lot of interest, when I say we, I mean my boss
T.Y. Danjuma, Obasanjo, myself, Gen. Aliyu Mohammed. We started it.
“I termed us the IRA military wing of the PDP, I thank God
we came up with the old concept. I believe one of our compatriots who said PDP
would rule for 60 years. He, however, urged the party to work harder if it must
take the power back from the ruling party because nothing good comes easy.
“But you still need to work very hard to get to the top
again. I am happy that you people are trying to put the PDP back together
again, and I still believe that two-party system is the right choice for
Nigeria because it gives room for choice.”
Addressing journalists after the meeting that lasted over an
hour, Chairman of the committee, Prof. Gana said the All Progressives Congress
(APC) had failed Nigeria.
According to Gana, governance was all about the security and
welfare of the people. “But as things are now, Nigerians are suffering. They
cannot feel the impact of the government. There is hunger everywhere in the land. “APC as a party over promised Nigerians and
now they cannot fulfill their promises. They have failed Nigerians.”
While praying for the quick recovery of President Muhammadu
Buhari, who has just returned from a medical trip to London, he said he would not
want to say much, adding that “if not for the president’s health, I would have
really punched them, but I do not want to punch them hard now, but the truth of
the matter is that the APC has failed the people completely.”
He was accompanied to the Hilltop residence of Babangida by
Chief Tom Ikimi, former deputy speaker, House of Representatives, Chief Emeka
Ihedioha, Prof. Ahmed Rufai Alkali, former minister of education, Prof. Tunde
Adeniran, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, while the entire PDP exco members in Niger
State led by its Chairman, Mr. Tanko Beji were present.
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