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Nwodo promises

Mr Nwodo said that
the process of choosing candidates for the 2011 election would be
subjected to internal democracy and that his leadership would ensure
that the scope of delegates to party primaries is reviewed in order to
have more elected delegates than statutory ones. The reform wing of the
party has been campaigning for exactly this, as they blamed the grip
which elected officials have on the party on their power to nominate
delegates.

“We must return the
choice of our candidate to the people and not to individual godfathers
and godmothers,” Mr Nwodo said. “The party shall, in the selection of
candidates for public office, and in appealing to the public, emphasize
ability, commitment to the common man’s welfare, and accountability in
the conduct of our politics. A new type of leadership must develop; it
must be forward looking and it must be inspiring and possessing a sense
of mission.

“In essence, the
country must learn once more to choose the honest and not the selfish.
We are committed to fight, by all means necessary, the twin evils of
mismanagement and corruption in our national life to restore public
morality.” The new party leader said the PDP has not kept its covenant
with the Nigerian people and its structure had been handed over to
godfathers at different levels with reckless abandon.

He listed the ills
afflicting the party to include imposition of candidates with
questionable characters and clearing the way for them to run for
elections.

“Such people
elected under our party banner have consistently brought public odium
on our great party, to the chagrin of our party members and the nation
at large,” he said. Our members aspiring to carry our banner in future
elections must start now to market themselves and canvass their
programmes aggressively to our party members and the Nigerian
electorate.”

Mr Nwodo also promised to update the party’s manifesto, which he said will be the new face of the PDP.