The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has said that the party is repositioning for the 2019 election by correcting some of the anomalies that led to its failure in the last election.
The party while stating this at its National Executive Council, NEC meeting, the first since the conclusion of the 2015 general election in April, also sounded a note of warning to the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC to leverage on the achievements recorded by the former administration and deliver on its promises to the Nigerian people or risks being thrown out of office in the next election in 2019 if it fails.
The PDP reminded the ruling party that one needs to have a nation first before seeking to rubbish it.
In conceding victory, PDP had made sacrifices so that democracy can survive, the Party said.
At the meeting, the party said its NEC had adopted the recommendations of the Post-election Review Committee but with amendments.
The communiqué issued at the end of its NEC meeting, the PDP stated that it adopted all other recommendations, but failed to approve the use of direct primaries in choosing candidates for elective offices.
The communiqué explained that the NEC had approved the recommendation of the post- election Review Committee and that the party should seek its 2019 presidential candidate from the North to enhance its electoral chances.
It also adopted the use of biometric registration of members nationwide.
The party also through its NEC resolved to support PDP candidates in the forthcoming governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States.
In the communiqué, the party applauded their leaders, elected and appointed officials of the party and members nationwide for their commitment to the party, especially the progress of the National Working Committee (NWC) with regard to the rebuilding efforts.
It commended the party’s publicity unit for its constructive and robust engagement of the ruling party and urged it to continue in that regard.
The PDP would continue to ensure credible, issue-based opposition as well as strict adherence to democratic tenets and the supremacy of the constitution of the country, and would continue the move towards the repositioning of the party to regain its preeminence in the polity and return to power at the centre in 2019, the Party’s NEC promised.
According to the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, who read out the communiqué, the issue of selection of a new chairman from the North-east was not discussed at the meeting, but NWC was directed to work with the leaders from North-east to chat the way forward.

In his remarks at the meeting of the NEC of the PDP, the deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said the APC has no choice than to leverage on the achievements of PDP and do more to consolidate on the gains already recorded
otherwise the PDP will be on its way back in 2019 and deservedly too.
According Ekweremadu, apart from the series of achievements recorded by the party in several sectors, the party has laid the solid foundation for democracy to
continue to thrive in the country.
He urged the judiciary to remain unbiased in its adjudication of election and other cases and for the security agencies to refuse to be partisan, maintaining that this is only way democracy can survive under the present dispensation.
Speaking also, the chairman of PDP governors forum and the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, charged APC not take the humility of the PDP for granted but to see it as a challenge to live up to the ideals of true democracy.
According to him, “for the fact the leader of the party and the ex-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, had accepted defeat, many party members would have gone to court to challenge the outcome of election which they believed was anything but perfect. Nigerians and political leaders who find it convenient to rubbish the legacies of President Jonathan in ceding power to President Muhammadu Buhari must have a rethink as they can only speak because Nigeria exists as a nation. To those who seek to rubbish all that PDP had achieved, let them know that without a Nigeria, there would have been no country to govern.“

In his welcome address, at the meeting, the acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, pointed out that the NWC’s position is that a thorough implementation of the roadmap is the panacea to the challenges confronting the party .
He listed some of the far- reaching recommendations of the Ekweremadu-led committee to include restoration of the sanctity of the zoning principle of the party, introduction of biometric membership registration, introduction of direct primaries (to guarantee internal democracy and reconciliation).
The part big wigs that attended the NEC meeting include the deputy Senate President, Ekweremadu, Governors Olusegun Mimiko, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu),
Ifeanyi Okowa, (Delta) Nyesome Wike (Rivers), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), former governors, senators, House of Representatives members, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, chairmen of state chapters of PDP.