Abia PDP Blows Hot ‘We Are Not Threatened By Opposition’

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Abia State chapter, has said that it won’t be moved by the threat of the opposition in the state to take over power in 2023, saying that the opposition is not on ground in the state but only making noise.

People’s Democratic Party

The party insisted that the opposition in the state revolves round few names masking noise in the social media, but pose no real threat to the PDP.

State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Asiforo Okere, who stated this in an interview with Vanguard in Umuahia, explained that the PDP is firmly rooted in the state and will continue to defeat the opposition as it has done in all the elections conducted in the state.

In his words; “PDP is not threatened by the opposition. The opposition is not on ground in Abia, they make noise and only exist on social media. The only people threatened by the opposition are those who aren’t on ground and are only on social media. But for the PDP who are on ground and have structures in wards, LGAs and state, we are not threatened.

“The opposition is even afraid of PDP. Just like in my LGA, I have not felt the presence of the opposition parties. And for the so called opposition making noise in Abia , I can count their names, they are too few. But you can’t count the stakeholders of the PDP in Abia. Abia people have seen that they did not make any mistake voting PDP.

“They would certainly return PDP in 2023. Let me also remind you that the work of the opposition is to make noise and make it very loud. PDP is the ruling party in the state; we will be distracted if we start responding to every noise from the opposition.

The noise being by the opposition is not going to change. In 2015 and 2019, it was the same noise; and PDP won. The characteristic of the opposition is noise making. We have taken away leadership from the opposition, but we can’t take away noise making.

They have the media space, but PDP will be here providing infrastructure and governance to our people. He dismissed reports that some PDP chieftains have defected to the opposition, stressing that no one can ‘build a mansion and abandon it for a canopy.’

“There are too many people coming into PDP and because our house is very large, we don’t have the time to celebrate anybody that comes in. We have too many people and who are we going to celebrate? But for the opposition, if they manage to catch a grasshopper, they will go to the social media to celebrate it.

PDP can’t be doing this because we may not do any other thing if we start celebrating anybody that comes into our party. It has become a tradition for people to move into PDP daily. PDP is a party that has a governor and political structures firmly rooted in the 17 LGAs and wards.

“If you understand the way politics is played in this part of the world and attitude of politicians, there are some people that want to go the House of Representatives, so even if you tie their legs with broom, you can’t stop them from moving to another party when they feel their interest won’t be served in the party.

They can even move to 10 parties within a particular election just to express themselves. You can’t stop such people because they will continue moving and failing. “The real party people are stable because no reasonable person builds a mansion and leaves it for a canopy. Anybody that leaves PDP, it is either something is pursuing him or he is pursuing something. You can do nothing about such people.

“There are people who have never played politics and somebody wakes them up to come and play politics. Does that mean that such persons defected from the PDP? Most of the defections I’m hearing were never members of the PDP.” Okere further stated that Nigerians are clamouring for the return of the PDP at the federal level because the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, has failed the country.

“You recall that many people are now beginning to see the good of the PDP at the federal level. This is why you see some APC people running to the former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan begging him to come and rescue them. This is the same person they wanted to crucify when he was in power. There is something to measure.

“A woman knows better when she marries two husbands. Is there anywhere you can measure that APC is better? Are the Nigerian people happier now? Is the standard of living better now? Are lives and properties safer now? Is there anywhere you can to say that the APC government is better?”