President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, would recapture all its ‘stolen mandates’ in Kwara on or before the 2015 general elections.
Mr. Jonathan gave this assurance when he received some PDP elders and political officeholders from Kwara in Abuja.
He expressed optimism that the PDP would take over the state, saying that the National headquarters of the party would assist and support the state in the realisation of this objective.
The president assured some members of the National Assembly who decided to remain in the PDP that they would never regret their action.
“In 2015, we will know who owns Kwara and if God gives us the opportunity, which I believe, probably we will even test our strength before 2015.
“All stolen mandates will return to PDP and those who think that they can run away with our mandates, they should have a rethink.
“We must take over the state structures of the party, the governor and the state assembly; we must take all because it is easy to reach the grassroots through the states than the centre.
“As a member of the assembly who refused to defect, you will have nothing to regret. Just celebrate it. If they think that PDP will allow them to run away with it, they will see it.
“So, any state we are unable to win, members of the party in that state will continue to live like orphans. So, definitely, we are taking Kwara,’’ he further stated.
The president expressed appreciation to the people of the state for the reception accorded him and other members of the PDP during the last February rally by the party in the state.
Earlier, the spokesman of the delegation which was led by Bola Shagaya, Azeez Jimoh, said they were in the State House to express their support and solidarity to the president and the entire PDP family.
Mr. Jimoh also thanked the president for appointing sons and daughters of the state into various government positions across the country.
He reassured that the PDP would win all elective positions in Kwara, including the governorship, national and state assembly seats in the forthcoming 2015 general elections.
The Kwara State governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed; his predecessor and serving senator, Bukola Saraki; all the council chairmen in Kwara, and majority of state and federal lawmakers in Kwara decamped to the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the PDP.
(NAN)