Opposition party says it's sorry, begs for another chance

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has tendered an unreserved apology to Nigerians for not living up to expectations in the 16 years preceding 2015.

The party was sacked from the center by the APC in 2015. It would be the first time PDP would be relinquishing its hold on power at the center since 1999.

The APC would go on to take control of 24 States as the PDP licked its wounds and plunged into an internal crisis that lasted two years.

Rescue Nigeria

The PDP held a town hall event tagged 'Nation Building:Resetting The Agenda' in Abuja on Monday, March 26, 2018, as it seeks to claw its way back into voter reckoning.

Party Chairman Uche Secondus said at the event that the APC has been running Nigeria badly and the PDP is ready to rescue a failing nation.

“The PDP was in power for 16 years and as expected, we made mistakes. We are sorry for our mistakes and when we return, we shall make this country better. We have experience, no other party has it.

“The PDP has embarked on a rescue mission and together we will salvage this nation back from the grip of the incompetent All Progressives Congress (APC),” Secondus said.

He added that; "Many will expectedly doubt our moral competence and compass to reset this agenda. Since it is said that charity begins at home, I am the very first to admit that our our party the People's Democratic Party of Nigeria made many mistakes consequently we were roundly sanctioned by Nigerians occasioning our loss at the polls in 2015.

"Let me seize this opportunity to apologise to Nigerians unequivocally for the several shortcomings of our party in the near and far past. It was all part of an evolution process without which there can be no maturity. In the words of May Sarton occasions such as this "gives one a chance to look backward and forward; to reset oneself."

According to the Chairman, days of imposition in the party are now over.

Secondus added that the APC has left Nigeria in debt to the tune of N11trillion in only three years.

"We learnt that while in 16 years PDP government was able to borrow N6trillion and had some projects commissioned for it, in just less than three years, APC regime has borrowed N11trillion and has not commissioned a single project", Secondus declared.

The party Chairman also accused the governing APC of waging a selective anti-corruption war.

Recession

The party Chairman devoted most of his speech to tagging the APC a monumental failure which plunged the country into a recession.

The Rescue Nigeria event was attended by PDP chieftains like Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Bode George, Ibrahim Shehu Shema, young party faithful and a host of other party bigwigs.

The event was moderated by young people and most of the panelists were younger Nigerians.

Peter Obi and former Katsina Governor Shema asked the new PDP leadership to present an alternative agenda before Nigerians.

Obi also said Nigeria isn’t out of recession as the APC has claimed. “It’s the rise in the price of oil that is out of recession. The non-oil sector is still in recession”, the former Anambra Governor said.

The PDP made it clear during the event that it is ready to hand over the party's future to women and the young.

Nigeria votes for a new president in February of 2019. The vote is seen as a straight contest between the APC and PDP.