…I’ll continue to show interest in national issues — Anenih

Former President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday that the PDP remains the biggest and strongest party to beat in the 2019 general elections.

A year after he announced his exit from active politicking, a former chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, said yesterday that he will still show more than a passing interest in issues affecting the nation.

Anenih said this when he received in audience in his Abuja residence, the Prof. Jerry Gana-led PDP Strategy Review and Inter-Party Affairs Committee, which mission was to present to him a copy of its report.

The former BoT chairman said He said that the party’s defeat at the 2015 general elections was a minor and temporary setback, which he said will not affect its chances in 2019. Speaking when he received a delegation of the PDP Strategy and InterParty the PDP and its leaders should not be embarrassed if they see him embark on visits to either President Muhammadu Buhari or Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, to rob minds on issues of national interest.

He restated his position that he would no longer be available for night political meetings, but would not be hesitant to offer advice to the PDP if the party leaders decided to tap from his wealth of experience.

He chided some PDP leaders promoting selfish interests, saying “PDP is where it is today because of selfishness on the part of its leaders, a vast majority of whom want to be either presidential candidate or national chairman of the party.”

Anenih also upbraided those who benefitted from the PDP but later defected to the APC, saying that was not the best way to reward a party that offered them its platform to actualize their aspirations.

“I believe in consistency. I joined party politics in 1978 and since then, I have never left any party that I joined for another. It is very shameful that people would do that, particularly those who had benefitted so much from the PDP,” he said.

He, however, wished the party well in its current effort to reorganise itself, saying “PDP has a chance to bounce back.”

He also voiced happiness over former president Goodluck Jonathan’s readiness to take up the challenge to help strengthen the PDP, recalling that he was reluctant to do so when he advised him a long time ago.

Earlier, Professor Gana had said the committee’s report would help to “effectively revive, re-energise and remobilise the party.”