As the date of primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) draws closer, Forum of former PDP Ministers, has stressed that age and experience will be a major determinant of who flies the party’s Presidential flag in the 2023 election.
The group lamented the faulty leadership recruitment process in the country which according to them is the bane of development over the years and must be tackled head on.
The former ministers stated the position during an interactive session with former Senate President and Presidential hopeful, Senator Pius Anyim. The chairman of the forum and former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Tanimu Turaki who spoke on behalf of his colleagues said that as a result of leadership failure, Nigeria has not been able to take her rightful place in the comity of developed nations.
Nigeria, he said, needs a man with the energy and capacity to tackle the developmental needs of the people in 2023, stressing that the ex-Ministers, given their knowledge in the inner workings of government, would play a pivotal role on who becomes Nigeria’s next President.
He said: “We need a person that is not very old. He (Anyim) has acquired sufficient experience and maturity and he is not also very young. So, he can relate with some of us that are young.
“We need somebody that has the courage to take decisive decisions because Nigerian needs a very strong and powerful president. We need a man of integrity, a person that will listen, a person that will be compassionate, a person that will show sympathy and empathy to Nigerians.
“The greatest problem we have had in this country is leadership failure because leadership has failed in this country and because the head of the fish is rotten; ultimately and quite invariably, the body of the fish will also be rotten.
“We have resolved that we must take special interest in what happens to our party in the build up to this election. We will play a very active role, we will liaise with the leadership of the party in selecting a credible candidate that will win election for us and win election for Nigeria and in the process, salvage Nigerians from the twin evils of hunger and poverty.”
Turaki lauded Anyim’s experience across the three arms of government, likening same to exactly what Nigeria needs to awake the giant in her.
“Between the experience you have gathered both from the legislative and executive arms of government and of course while you have never had the opportunity of heading or playing a pivotal role in the judiciary; your qualification as a senior lawyer now fills that gap and makes you one person that has the opportunity of gravitating and serving from both arms of government in this country,” he added.
According to the ex-Ministers, time has indeed come for Nigerians to settle for a leader who has what it takes to make the country works, because, “never in our political history have we been so divided among different unimaginable lines. It is important that we go for a person that can build very strong bridges of friendship among the various divides.”
While wooing the support of the former Ministers, Anyim who was also a Secretary to the Government of the Federation, stressed that his knowledge of public service procedure places him at a vantage position to make Nigeria work for all.
He said: “When I worked as a civil servant, it was in two parastatals in the Presidency. I worked as President of the Senate, working along with the President to move the country forward.
“I worked as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the engine room of the Presidency. My experiences are cognate. I am not going to learn on the job; I am going to continue from where we stopped.
He pointed out that if Nigerians elect the wrong leader, the country will sink more deeper than she is today.
“Let me also say that today in Nigeria, we are concerned about things that are not going well. There is insecurity, there is economic downturn.The first commitment I want to offer Nigerians is to stand on the framework of consensus and reunite Nigerians and reduce mutual suspicion,” he pledged, adding that “when we are able to redirect the nation on the path of unity and eliminate mutual suspicion, all of us will come together, pick the right hands based on competence and capacity and work together to refocus the economy, rescue the country and rebuild our society.”
Some of the former ministers present at the meeting include Elder Godsday Orubebe, Labaran Maku, Solomon Ewuga, Sanusi Dagash and Josephine Anenih, Ina Ciroma, Mukhtar Shehu Shagari, Osita Chidoka among others.
