TheCable

BY SEGUN BAMIGBETAN BAJU

Suddenly, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set for a major rebound by winning the February 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. This is hardly surprising in view of the disastrous performance of the APC-led government since 2015. The deft management of the party (PDP) by Dr Iyorchia Ayu since being elected as chairman in October 2021 has set in motion a chain of reaction that will culminate in the election of the party’s flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar as Nigerian president in early 2023.

All party faithful must mobilize across the country as Nigerians are determined to replace the current government that has brought misery and calamity to millions of Nigerians. Since 2015, every economic and social indicator has been, negative and Nigerians continued to wallow in abject poverty, insecurity and social disruption to daily life.

Any call for Dr Iyorchia Ayu to step down as chairman is a step in the wrong direction. You do not change a winning team in the midst of a battle. Iyorchia Ayu is set to redeem the PDP and rescue Nigeria from retrogression. Once the PDP federal government is installed in Abuja in 2023, Dr Ayu will do the right thing.

The intelligent, highly educated and unassuming social scientist is on a familiar turf. He has the right track record. When in 1992, the military government in place was floundering in its democratic transition programme, it was the effort of Nigerians led by Ayu, then senate president, that propelled the democratic march in the right direction. But for Ayu and a few others, the June 12, 1993, election that produced Chief M.K.O. Abiola would not have held. I was privy to a number of strategic moves made by Ayu and others to change the direction of the country. I was privileged to accompany him on some of the trips.

Ayu is again called upon to play a similar, pivotal role in the life of our nation today. He deserves our unflinching support. He has the character, courage and pedigree to lead the party and the nation out of this quagmire. The future of Nigeria and its citizens depends on this change. The Buhari government has mortgaged this country with unending needless loans, with no corresponding positive impact on the life of Nigerians.

Now is the time to support Ayu to help rescue Nigeria again!

Baju writes from Ile-Ife, Nigeria