The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has predicted that the Peoples Democratic Party would defeat President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress in the 2019 elections.
“In 2019, the PDP will produce the President. If we emerge victorious at the federal level, all of us will be the beneficiaries. In the state, with your support, we will win the state too. All of you here are the key players in Kwara politics. With the unity of purpose, no party can contest with you. We are here to unite all of us under the party we belong to today, ” Saraki said, in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
He spoke during a harmonisation summit for the PDP members and those who recently defected to the party from the APC, added that he was hopeful that the PDP would emerge victorious in the state.
The senate president, who holds the ace in Kwara politics, said, “I am assuring all members that there will be equity, internal democracy and justice. It is not going to be a winner takes all. As far as I am concerned, everybody here today belongs to our political structure. There is nothing like old or new PDP. We have all become one PDP.
“There is nobody here that will not say, one way or the other, we have not been together before. I am very sure that the future is bigger and brighter than in the past. I want all of us and the development of Kwara State.
“As per the politics of the state, nobody can wrest power from us if we are united. By the grace of God, in the forthcoming elections, we will emerge victorious both at the federal and state levels. We will ensure that we work as one party because we have always worked together before.”
According to Saraki, he has no anointed candidates, adding that there would be transparency and inclusiveness in the choice of candidates for different political offices.
He also said he had not endorsed any candidate and appealed to party leaders not to use his name to impose unpopular politicians as candidates on the party.
He said, “I don’t have any anointed candidate at all levels. I don’t have candidates for the state Assembly, National Assembly. It is the person you want in your constituency that I will okay.
“Don’t allow anybody to deceive you that I have endorsed any candidate,” he said.
The Senate President implored party leaders and elders not to drop his name to impose unpopular candidates.
“All of us will collectively choose who becomes the next governor. We will ensure that there is no faction, but one PDP.
“We will ensure that meetings in the local government areas take place in one venue. And we will all work together for the interest of the party.”
“We will see that all the wards and local governments’ popular candidates emerge based on their popularity and acceptability. I want to emphasise that I don’t have any anointed candidate at any level. I don’t have candidates for the state assembly; it is the person you want in your constituency that I will approve. Don’t allow anybody to deceive you that I have endorsed any candidate, the Senate president said.
The Senate President also urged the PDP members to start working towards the election now.
He said “I am sure many more will come back and join us because those that left under the wrong assumption that it will be different from what it used to be.
“They were misled that those coming are out to move them away. Nobody is moving you away because this place belongs to you too.
“Let us go back and start work closely together and by the grace of God we will all be victorious.”
