PDP Board of Trustees member and founding member of the party Inna Ciroma has declared with absolute certainty that she will not be leaving the Peoples Democratic Party under any circumstances, insisting that for her the PDP remains the only truly democratic party in Nigeria despite the crisis currently rocking it.
She acknowledged that the ranks of original founding members still within the party have thinned dramatically over the years, noting that she could count them on her fingertips — with even former President Goodluck Jonathan’s status as a founding member subject to question since he was reportedly teaching somewhere else when the party was formed.
According to Inna Ciroma, the PDP’s name itself captures why she remains committed to it — a People’s Democratic Party that was deliberately formed to belong to all Nigerians — and leaving it at her stage in life would amount to a full retirement from politics, a step she is not willing to take.
Inna Ciroma said: “I am, as I said, I kept on saying — I am a member of the PDP and I’m going nowhere. I like being in the People’s Democratic Party because for me it is the only democratic party in Nigeria except for the problem we are facing now. The name of the party is People’s Democratic Party — it is democratic, it belongs to Nigerians. So every Nigerian that loves this country will appreciate the People’s Democratic Party. At my age, if I leave the party it means I’m retiring from politics.”