National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, has urged the party members nationwide to start preparing for 2015 general elections.
He spoke in Abuja on Sunday when he received some party members from his home state, Adamawa.Tukur said he would want the PDP to win, at least, 26 of the 36 states.
The group was led by Senator Grace Bent and Senator Abubakar Gada.
He said, “I seize this opportunity to appeal to our members in the entire federation to start bracing for future challenges of delivering not less than 26 states to PDP.
“We have the wherewithal to do this and we shall do it without recourse to foul play. We will all work hard for it.”
He said he was excited by the outcome of the Mayo-Belwa State House of Assembly by-election in the state, which was won by the PDP.
Tukur said he would one day tell the story of how the party secured victory in the election.
He said, “I have a story to tell on PDP in Adamawa and I will tell it in the nick of time.
“Our candidate, Umar Abdulkarim, won with overwhelming votes during the election as he trounced the Kowa Party’s candidate, Umar Kaugama, with total votes of 12, 040 against 7, 840.
“The outcome of the by-election reflected the capacity of PDP to always win election under a free, fair and transparent atmosphere, and I want to thank President Goodluck Jonathan and PDP members in Adamawa and Mayo-Belwa for ensuring the party’s victory during the election.”
He said the outcome of the election had indicated that members of the party and the electorate in the state were prepared to take their destinies in their hands.
He said he was impressed that the by-election was peaceful, noting that voters shunned entreaties from moneybags to compromise their choice.
Tukur said, “The Mayo-Belwa election had shown that our people are getting mature more and more on election matters.
“I now believe that the era where moneybags had the free will to buy votes is over. My people in Adamawa had spoken and spoken aloud that their votes are a powerful instrument which really counts.
“We knew that the opponents tried spiritedly, including floating phoney parties to confuse the people.”
