PDP Has Failed Nigerians, Says Baraje

Former acting
National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, has passed a damning
verdict on the party, saying PDP has failed Nigerians.
Baraje, who until August 31, when he joined other
members of the party to stage a walk-out from the
ruling party's special mini-convention at the Eagle
Square, Abuja, to form their own faction known as
"New PDP", was a top member and one of the policy
makers of the PDP.
According to Baraje, who spoke with reporters in
Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on Sunday, the party
had failed to fulfill its electoral promises to Nigerians.
Baraje said, "PDP has failed the people and I make
bold to say that. The PDP that I know, that I was the
chairman; that I was the National Secretary, currently
is no longer the PDP that we had when I was there
and when many of us were there.
"It derailed because it has failed to fulfill the
promises in its manifestoes.
"We told the people who voted us into power that we
are going to give them economic freedom,
employment, electricity and qualitative education.
We also promised that we were going to give food in
abundance. You and I can answer to these whether
we have been able to do these", he said.
Baraje, who had to resign his appointment as
Chairman of the Board of Nigeria Railway
Corporation, NRC, following his decision to lead the
New PDP as its national chairman, claimed that the
recent defections witnessed in the polity was as a
result of unfilled aspirations, noting that it was
normal to agree or to disagree in the game of politics.
He said, "Anything can happen, provided the party
has the wherewithal to satisfy the electorate. When
election comes, Nigerian electorates have the right to
decide".