In a day retreat convened by the Kogi PDP renaissance is being attended by stalwarts drawn from the North Central geopolitical zone ahead of the November 2023 governorship election in Kogi State; leaders and stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP attended a day retreat.
Reacting to the appeal from guests speaker, Prof. Jerry Ghana who during the lecture appealed to the leaders of Kogi state PDP on the needs for internal democracy to prevails, Kogi state former commissioner for Finance, Hon. Zakari Alfa has added his voice to the initial request of Prof. Jerry Ghana, Alfa in a private chat with the OBSERVERS TIMES said PDP have a beautiful chance of wining the next Kogi state governorship election if we emphasis less on money bag politics and focus on a popular candidate who will help the party win the election.
Hon. Zakari Alfa, Dr Idris Omede, Dr Victor Adoji and Alhaji Abubakar Ibrahim Idris during the Kogi state PDP Reinassance retreat
On PDP chances in 2023, Hon Zakari Alfa said “The chances are high if the right candidate is selected. Once the party picks the right candidate, I can tell you that PDP has the capacity to win, once we pick the right candidate, it is based on the candidate the party chooses, if it chooses the right candidate, So PDP needs to do the needful, they need to get it right and they need to ensure that at the primaries level, the right candidate is selected and then the election will be sorted out.
On the Congress in October, Alfa said “The party is completely controlled by the ward, the ward is the determinant of who become local government chairmen, who becomes the state chairman and of course who becomes the governorship candidate because at that ward level, delegates are elected and these delegates are supposed to come together and elected governorship candidate and other candidates for other elective positions. So the ward is the most important arm of the party structure and we all must take our ward seriously”
PDP’s chances at the election.
Hon. Zakari Alfa said “I see light at the end of the tunnel I can see hope for the people, I can see PDP doing the right thing for the people, I can see PDP organising a free and fair primaries congresses, and I can see at the end of the day we carrying out a very formidable campaign to win the election so my chances in the party is super bright.
Impact of moneybags in the campaign
Hon. Zakari Alfa said PDP is not for sale, members of the PDP are also not for sale and a number of our members have grown in terms of their understanding of democracy, they have gone beyond selling their mandate for peanuts. So if you are a moneybag and you want to spend your money, the best way to spend it is to spend it to the needy, not trying to buy members of the PDP to support you. PDP members are wiser now, they want the party back in power, they want the party back in Lugard House and only credible candidates can help the party, only candidates that appeal to all across party lines that can win that mandate for PDP. Definitely the era of money flaunting is gone. There is no fear that some people have money because we all have money, but we will not spend our money to buy people to do the wrong thing, so they should better warn whoever has money, he should stop spending his money to buy the wrong things. I can assure you that if buy primaries from the party delegates , no money can buy the heart and conscience of the people at the General election for that internal Democracy as emphasized by Professor Jerry Ghana and Senator Nicholas Ugbane must be relook into ahead of the coming election.
Honourable Zakari Alfa as noted in the opening savvy is a native of Ankpa, in Ankpa Local Government area of Kogi state he was commissioner for finance and economic development in Capt.Idris Wada Adminstration.