A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adedeji Doherty says though the party made some mistakes while in power between 1999 and 2015, such mistakes can be corrected if Nigerians give the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar a chance to become president in 2023.
Doherty, who is the Chairman of the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council in Lagos State, made this known on Monday as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.
“I believe that the PDP has retraced its steps, we have made mistakes all along the road to making Nigeria great and it is time we stabilised this country and give PDP another chance to make good its promises,” he said.
Doherty also said Atiku helped stabilised democracy in Nigeria after military rule as head of the country’s economic team. Atiku was Nigeria’s Vice-President between May 1999 and May 2007 during the tenure of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, who took over from then-military leader, Abdulsalami Abubakar, signaling the commencement of the Fourth Republic.
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“You must give the PDP the credence that it was able to stabilise democracy in Nigeria and these two gentlemen (Atiku and Obasanjo) were the pioneer persons that did this job,” he stated.
‘APC Does Not Deserve To Win Any Seat’
The PDP stalwart further said the All progressives Congress (APC) does not deserve to win any seat in Lagos in the 2023 general elections, going by its performance which he said has not been satisfactory.
“I don’t think the All progressives Congress should even be vying for anything right from the presidential (seat) up to the local government, especially in Lagos State,” Doherty noted.
The PDP, though was the party at the centre from 1999 to 2015, has not been able to win the governorship seat in Lagos since the beginning of the Fourth Republic.
The defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) produced Bola Tinubu, who was in office as state governor between May 1999 and May 2007. The AD metamorphosed into the Action Congress (AC) and produced Tinubu’s protégé, Babatunde Fashola, as governor for another eight years. The AC also changed to the All Progressives Congress (APC) which produced Akinwunmi Ambode as governor in 2015 and Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2019.
Although Sanwo-Olu is seeking re-election in 2023, the PDP governorship candidate in Lagos, Olajide Adediran aka Jandor hopes to break a 24-year record of Tinubu’s dominance next year.
Tinubu, now the APC presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections, is in the race alongside PDP’s Atiku and Labour Party’s Peter Obi in a contest described as a three-horse race.
