After a meeting with former governors and ministers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since 1999, the new national chairman, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, has said Nigerians were nostalgic for a return to power of the former ruling party.

He also said the nostalgia was due to the manifest failure of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The new national chairman spoke as former governors and former minister pledged loyalty to the new National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

Addressing the meeting that took place in Abuja, he said, the choice of the meeting was deliberate ”Because when you talk of the 16 glorious years of the PDP, you are talking of the uncommon projects and the legacies that were done in most of the states in this country by our former governors, which legacies are still standing tall today.

”When, again, you speak about the 16 glorious years of PDP governance at the centre, then you are also talking about the phenomenal work that our former ministers have done in terms of policy formulation, in terms of driving those policies to achieve maximum effect, in terms of projects that have impacted very positively and profoundly on the lives of Nigerians.

”And that is why today, even after we left office 10 years ago, our legacies in the states and indeed at the centre are standing tall for everybody to see.

“That is why, in spite of the great efforts that have been done to malign PDP and past PDP leaders, to discredit us and the work we’ve done, up to now Nigerians have remained consistently nostalgic about the bond and relationship that we built with them over those glorious 16 years.

”It is on record that PDP grew Nigerian economy. We pulled this country out of debt burden. We were able to build infrastructure.

”We built strong institutions that today have strengthened what governments at various levels are doing, be it in terms of project execution or monitoring, be it in terms of war against corruption, and so many areas.

“And so for us therefore, if as a new NWC we’ve said, and consistently so, that we need to bring us back to those glorious 16 years of PDP rulership in this country, that we must therefore go back to the basics.” (Arise News)

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