TheCable

Adamu Mu’azu, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says his party has been badly affected by the “poaching of its best brains” and mass defection of its members to other political parties.

Although Mu’azu confessed that PDP was knocked down by the defections, he said the party was still standing strong.

In a statement issued on Monday by Tony Amadi, his chief press secretary, he maintained that the PDP would certainly achieve victory in the forthcoming elections because it had worked hard for it. He also All Progressives Congress, lampooning the party that it had nothing to offer, but to mouth change and make impossible promises.

“As our robust and issue-based campaign goes into its final week, the Peoples Democratic Party is very much on course for a deserved victory at the forthcoming polls. We have put our best foot forward and in reviewing the campaign tour so far, I have no reason to doubt that victory will be the reward of our hard work,” Mu’azu said.

“When the campaign started, it was clear that the opposition had gone far in distorting the achievements of our great party. When they shout ‘change’, they don’t tell Nigerians what they want to change. Do they want to change the sound educational policy of the PDP which has been hailed all around the country as the route to transformation of the country’s democratic institutions?

“In the north, the popularity of our Almajiri schools system has finally solved the educational backwardness in the three zones of the giant north. We shall follow this up with a revolution of the normadic education system started positively by the Babangida regime in the 1980’s and we would have wiped out ignorance.

“On insurgency, positive results are emerging from the combined forces of our neighbours who have realised that Boko Haram is not just a threat to Nigeria, but also a major regional threat and the need for a combined effort to wipe out this al Qaeda-inspired menace should be dealt a fatal blow by a combined regional force. What will APC change in tackling insurgency as they have claimed every day of the campaign? Absolutely nothing! All that they will change is that they will apply their propaganda expertise and confuse Nigerians even more.

“The PDP juggernaut is up, running and is unstoppable. Political campaigning is not about mounting the soap box and shouting APC Change! APC Change! Change without proper analysis and costing is simply time wasting. I expect that the APC should have handed down what their budget would look like this year if they won, and show Nigerians where they will get the money to finance their mountain of promises, but nothing of the sort has yet happened as campaign closes.

“This is the least that Nigerians deserve, not a conglomeration of failed political parties with nothing to offer than to promise heaven and earth. If the PDP was merely lily-livered, it should have collapsed with all the poaching of our best brains and the defection of our members. Yes we were knocked down, but we are not out. We have in fact stood up to their challenge and now pummeling them to submission.

“My take on the campaign so far is that we have a great chance in the northwest and northeast and the north central is our usual hunting ground where we normally excel. The huge votes of Kano will be shared equally because our leadership there has done a great job, thanks to the fighting spirit of Education Minister Shekarau, coupled with the unsure steps of the governor which has prevented him from involvement in pushing their presidential candidate.

“The southwest was already rooting for the PDP after the deceit of their party was exposed with Afenifere, UPN and the OPC rooting for us while the Southeast and South south was already a no go area for the opposition despite their pretence in Imo, Rivers and Edo states. I want to specially thank our star performers on the grass roots campaign train all over the country. I can shout it to the high heavens that: We are the champions.”