Dr Salihu Lukman, Director-General Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) has commended the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the successful conclusion of the party`s National Convention held on Oct 31.

Lukman in a statement on Monday, in Abuja, said credit must be given to leaders and members of the PDP for being able to manage the electoral process to elect new leaders for the party.

He, however, said that the newly-elected PDP leaders should build on the new atmosphere to start a new beginning for the party.

He said this should be based on honesty, respect for one another and recognition that politics was all about negotiations and agreement.

The PGF DG noted that while people were free to disagree with decisions of the majority, such disagreements should respect the rights of the majority to direct how parties, society and nation should be governed.

Lukman explained that when disagreement turned to rebellion, it was either that those who disagreed were not democrats, or they lacked the capacity to negotiate and through negotiations win the support of the majority.

“Ordinarily, the successful conclusion of the PDP national convention should only be celebrated by PDP members.

“However, given the important role, the party has played in orienting politics in Nigeria for 16 years between 1999 and 2015, during which Nigerian politics was made to be opposed to negotiations.

“It is important to acknowledge that the October 30, a national convention is about the first time since 1999 perhaps, that there is some semblance of negotiations to produce leaders of the party.

“Whether in the end, the new leaders will be allowed by the power blocs within the PDP to facilitate negotiations, is completely a different matter,” Lukman said.

He added that the fact that the PDP could elect a young person, below 30 years as its National Youth Leader meant that its leaders had recognised that the old culture of arrogance and impunity must be avoided.

He said this was important especially if they were to win the support of Nigerians, adding that this in itself was a confirmation that once processes were managed democratically, the right results would be achieved.

The PGF DG said Nigerian should wish the PDP, its leaders and members well.

He said it is expected that PDP leaders would build on the successes of the national convention to re-orient their politics based on honesty and respect for one another.

He, however, added that being honest should be about taking responsibility.

According to Lukman, the PDP national convention would have been reduced to window dressing rituals and legitimising the instructions of its kingmakers if it was in power at the federal level.

“Perhaps, everything leading to the PDP national convention happened because there is no serving PDP president acting as the leader of the party.

“Good enough, being out of power, PDP leaders had to respect the democratic process, which raises the hope of especially PDP members that the party is being reformed,” he said.

He noted that while the convention indicated that the PDP was ready to depart from its old ways, many of the speeches of its leaders at the event demonstrated a lack of commitment to take responsibility.

“Almost all the speeches of PDP leaders during the convention were about winning election in 2023 and returning to power.

“Sadly, there is no indication, at any point during the convention, showing how the party intends to solve Nigeria’s challenges.

“Not even a reference by any PDP leader during the convention to any provision of the party’s manifesto, which must have gathered dust in the cabinet of INEC.

“Perhaps, apart from the few founding members of the party, almost all the delegates to the national convention have never seen the manifesto of the PDP,” he said.

Lukman said the APC must use its forthcoming national convention to demonstrate its commitment to change Nigeria, adding that apart from electing leaders, the party`s manifesto should be subjected to amendment debate.

He added that as part of the commitment to change Nigerian politics, APC must commit itself to the unity of Nigeria based on governance initiatives.

He further added that this should be founded on the principles of fairness and equitable access to resources and opportunities by all Nigerians from every part of the country.

He said the APC must, in addition, commit itself to developing the productive potentials of every Nigerian and every part of the country.

“The issue of national development must be oriented based on clear strategies to develop the economy of every part of the country.

“Issues of industrialisation, human capital development through correspondingly aggressively high public and private investment in education and health sectors of the country must be prioritised.

“This should mean that commitment of political leaders to issues of development planning must be strengthened, and the Nigeria public service must be appropriately reformed and rebuilt to manage initiatives for national development,” Lukman stressed.