Former President Goodluck Jonathan said on Monday that Nigerians still have confidence in the capacity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to lead the country.
Jonathan stated this at the expanded National Caucus meeting of the party held at Wadata House, Abuja.
He said Nigerians were worried that the party would go down.
The ex-President said this confidence in the PDP was demonstrated with reactions by Nigerians to last Wednesday’s Supreme Court’s judgment on the party’s leadership crisis.
He urged that efforts by PDP members and supporters within this period should be channelled towards building the party.
Jonathan said: “Nigerians still believe in the PDP because when the Supreme Court judgment was given, I was so surprised because some of the people called and sent text messages to me.
“They are not even politicians but they are so happy that PDP has come on stream because they were worried that PDP will go down.
“So, if people who are not even members of PDP are so happy that PDP has now gotten a platform to operate despite the negative propaganda against us, it means people still believe in PDP.
“PDP is a party that Nigerians still believe in.”
He appealed to party members to rebuild it, assuring that many people who stepped aside from the party as a result of its leadership crisis would return.
The ex-President added: “The first thing we need to do is to rebuild the party because when the party is strong, everything will be added to that.
“Whether you have individual or group interest, as a politician, you must serve. These are very basic things, but first and foremost, we must strengthen the party.
“Let us cooperate with the Caretaker Committee and make sure that PDP is very cohesive. And when that happens, people who stepped aside may step back.
“We may not even need to go on a voyage of discovery to discover people. But they, themselves will come back because a strong party acts like a magnet.
“It will attract all the people that are interested.”
The Chairman of the PDP National Caretaker Committee, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, said only a miracle would stop PDP from regaining power in 2019.
Makarfi said the meeting was convened to chart the way forward for the party.- NAN
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