Following many setbacks, including the loss of the governorship election last year and dwindling membership, the chairman of the opposition PDP in Cross River State, Vena Ikem, has hinted that they are going to rejig their entire structures to bounce back.
He said the party still enjoys unprecedented support from the grassroots.
Ikem spoke during a stakeholders’ meeting of the party convened in Calabar to reawaken it.
“We’re going back to rejig our party. We’re going to put things in place. I am not proud to be a chairman that lost governorship elections in the state, but I am proud that I come from a zone where we did a bit different.”
He attributed their loss in the 2023 governorship election to the party’s internal wrangling and disunity.
“We went for the election with a divided house. This assisted our opponents in winning key positions, including the governorship. We were a divided house, which couldn’t have stood. We had taken the support and success we enjoyed for granted.”
According to him, the party remains strong at the grassroots, adding that he takes responsibility for the outcome of the last election and the way things turned out.
He appealed to PDP stakeholders to now look beyond personal interests, saying there are challenges they need to overcome.
“We need to reason with each other. There’s still enthusiasm for the PDP and we will definitely bounce back,” he added.
Speaking at the event, the senator representing the Northern Senatorial District, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, expressed happiness that key stakeholders were still keeping faith with the party despite the odds.
According to Jarigbe, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is not infallible, stressing that they must remain steadfast by taking advantage of the mistakes the APC will also make.
“APC took over due to the mistakes that we made. I don’t think that the APC is infallible. They will definitely make the same mistakes, and that will pave the way for us to take over,” Jarigbe stated.
In his remarks, PDP governorship candidate in the 2023 election, Prof. Sandy Onor, asked the party faithful not to be deterred by the losses the party suffered in the last year’s governorship election.
He assured them that the party would certainly bounce back to its feet again.
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