Our Party’s Not Dead, Says PDP’s Aliyu

The outgoing Governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, on Wednesday declared that the Peoples Democratic Party, though smarting from the humiliating defeat it suffered in the 2015 general elections, is not dead.

He assured that the party would bounce back in 2019 to take what it lost in this year’s elections.

Aliyu, who made this declaration when the Umar Nasko Campaign Organization, led by Alhaji Aminu Wushishi, visited him in Government House, Minna, said the PDP would meet at state and federal levels to assess its performance at the 2015 polls and correct its mistakes.

“Our party is not dead. When all these cools down, we will properly re-organise to bring PDP back to its formidable political strength. Many things have happened and this is not the time for us to apportion blame.

“I therefore hope that when we will have to re-organise our party, we would add ideology to what we have. Let me urge you to stop thinking you have failed. In terms of elections, particularly the time we found ourselves, it went beyond the limits of individual effort”, he said.

Speaking on the outcome of the 2015 elections, the Niger governor expressed satisfaction.

He specifically thanked the Niger State electorate for conducting themselves in the most peaceful manner, adding that the elections were free and fair, devoid of electoral violence.

Speaking earlier, Wushishi hailed Aliyu over the way and manner he accepted the outcome of the elections despite the fact it was not in favour of the PDP.

According to Wushishi, the governor exhibited the trait of a good leader.

He, therefore, urged Aliyu, who not only lost in his bid to install a successor but also lost his own senatorial election, not to be discouraged by the results, adding that he had done well in the area of dividends of democracy.

The leader of the delegation, however, pointed out that the Nigerian electorate were “conclusive” in the area of voting for a particular political party, regardless the qualities of their candidates.