The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-East says it has begun reconciling its aggrieved members who defected to other political parties.

The party said this at its zonal meeting in Enugu, pointing out that the measure was part of the efforts to reclaim its position in the zone. It expressed the hope that the initiative would help to consolidate its support base for the political and historical development of the country.

Governor Peter Mbah urged party leaders and faithful in the region to rise to the task of recovering its lost ground and rebuilding the party to its pre-eminent position in the years past.

Mr Mbah, PDP leader of the South-East, said there was a need to rejig the party’s financial, administrative and operational strategies. He expressed a strong conviction that the party would rise again in the zone.

“As the national vice-chairman of the South-East rightly observed, we have shed a lot of weight. Today, when you look at other parties, whether it is the Labour Party, All Progressives Congress, the New Nigeria People’s Party, and so on, you are actually talking about PDP members.

“But providence has placed a lot on us in the history of the party that we now have to steer the affairs of the party and pull it back to its former glory, to that pre-eminent position we have always held in the historical and political development of this country,” stated the Enugu governor.

Mr Mbah added, “And in doing that, we have a couple of areas we have to look into, such as financial, administrative, and operational strategies to bring us back to pre-eminence.”

The governor further said it was time for the party to craft a strategy to return to that “pole position” they had always occupied.

“It means we have to, first of all, consolidate our support base as a party and now reach out to our brothers and sisters, who may have felt aggrieved for one reason or the other and left the party to see how we can bring them back,” he said.

The PDP South-East national vice-chairman, Ali Odefa, also called on party faithful and leaders in the region to brace for the challenge that would engender the resurgence of the party in the zone and beyond.

Meanwhile, the PDP’s board of trustees chair, Adolphus Wabara, said, “I do not want us to be discouraged. Let us continue to have hope and belief in PDP.”

The meeting was attended by Deputy Governor Ifeanyi Ossai, ex-Governors Achike Udenwa, Emeka Ihedioha, Sam Egwu, and zonal woman leader Ifeyinwa Morah, as well as state party chairs, including Augustine Nnamani of Enugu.

(NAN)