Follow Us on Google
From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike on Monday visited the former governor of Kaduna State, Senator Mohammed Ahmed Makarfi in his Kaduna residence.
Wike told the mammoth crowd that besieged Makarfi ‘s residence to see him; that he was not on a political trip but to see Senator Makarfi who was overseas on health grounds.
Governor Wike however expressed sadness that Nigeria as a country was bleeding because of insecurity.
He called on members of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) to unite and take over power in 2023.
The host, Senator Makarfi, told Wike and his entourage that the people of Nigeria would be disappointed in the PDP if they don’t unite and take over power.
He said going by election results in recent times where the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had lost many units at grassroot levels, Nigerians were now tired and were waiting for the PDP to take over power.
“I call on our leader to know if he was back from London because I am aware that he travelled out of the country for some months for health issues. When he came back he said he would come and see me in Abuja but I said I would come to Kaduna to see him,” the Rivers governor stated.
“I thought it was a quiet visit just to find out how he was after his hospital visit but I am overwhelmed with what I saw, I did not come here for politics, I came here to see somebody who has contributed his own to the party, the growth of the party today and if anything happens to him, it happens to all of us in the party and I know that Kaduna will suffer for it.
“We thank God in His infinite mercy that he has recovered very well. I did not know Senator Makarfi until he became chairman of the party, I did not know him, not that I did not know who senator Makarfi was but we were not as close, we got close when he became chairman that is when you know that you cannot buy leadership, leadership is given by God that is when you know who has leadership qualities when a party is in crisis.
“When our party was in crisis, when Ali Modu Sheriff was to be used to kill our party, you stood firm, committed and showed boldness and said I have no other place to go other than the PDP, he built the party from the shackles of Ali Modu Sheriff and it is good when you speak to somebody, you know that he is a human being.
“Whatever he tells you is what he will say in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening, that is leadership, not someone that will say something in the morning and say a different thing in the afternoon and in the evening and then people call it politics that is not politics.
“Continue to do what you have been doing. You have won the elections, I saw how PDP came out strong even though we are the opposition during the councillorship elections, despite being the opposition, you are on the ground in Kaduna State and for the party to be on the ground, it required strong leadership.
“There is still time, you recover fully so that you can be battle ready against them come 2023. I want to also urge all of you, you see in every family there are bound to be problems, put yourselves together, Nigeria is bleeding and if we are not united Nigeria will not forgive us because every Nigerian is hoping that PDP must come and stop this bleeding.
“The issue at stake now is not who wants to run for the presidency of where to zone presidency, the issue now is that all party members must be united because if you like zone president to the West if you are not united you cannot achieve anything so that most important thing now is the unity of the party, forgive anybody who may have gone astray, bring back everybody and use your leadership qualities to forgive.
“I will render support whenever it is needed to move the party forward as the PDP is the only party in the country which has hope. The All Progressive Congress (APC) has finished Nigeria, they no longer have new ideas and if they had ideas, they did not use it.”
Makarfi, in his remarks, said without the solid support Wike gave when they were caretaker committee, there would not have been PDP.
“We played our role, but you played a key role. I commend you for this role towards the successful convention of the party, there were a lot of differences but at the end of the day we came out as one strong PDP family and put our adversaries to shame and it is what they can never do,” he said.
“I absolutely believe that with the same energy and perseverance we can do it again. If there is no party what is the point of your ticket; therefore we have to build the party first, we have to be united and when a consensus is decided, we should all have one voice.”
