Former Senate President, Mr Pius Anyim has called on leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to partner with him to return the country to the path of peace and progress.
Anyim who is bidding to win the presidential ticket of the PDP for 2023 election also advised PDP stakeholders to avoid the mistakes made in 2015 which brought the All Progressives Congress, APC, to power.
He was speaking in Abuja at a consultative meeting with PDP leaders across the six geo-political zones, in continuation of his campaign ahead of the party’s presidential primaries in May.
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“In 2015, some of us in PDP, simply decided to pull out of PDP and bring that government down and we were plunged into darkness. That is why we are here,” he said.
The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation said, “Let nobody confuse you. Let nobody mislead you. We were confused and misled in 2015. And that is why we are here. We now have an opportunity to come together and reinvent ourselves.
“Do you agree with me that Nigerians are saying please return us to 2015? If Nigerians are begging us to return them to 2015, do you have any reason not to support me?” he asked.
Speaking further,he said, “We were planning that for the second tenure of President Jonathan, we will stretch out these plans and policies to actually deliver maximum results, unfortunately, that administration was truncated.
“If you stand by me, if you partner with me, we will return this country, again on the path of peace, growth and prosperity.”
While advancing his proposition on how to make Nigeria competitive once again, Anyim said, “I want to say that in returning Nigeria, on the part of growth, we have to sharpen a new foundation or at least the return to where we stopped in 2015.
“ I want to say that the crises of our nation today, the challenge of our time today demands a unifier. It demands a crisis manager. It demands a stabilizer and these are all that I am known for.
“I will build consensus across the board. I will make sure I secure the buy-in of every component of our polity before I deploy any policy that will help us move forward.”
On insecurity, he said, “ I will address insecurity from the roots and by the time I take it up from its roots, I will nip it at the point of arms. I mean at the point people start carrying arms.
“Without that underground preparation, it will be difficult to just carry arms and achieve results,” he noted.