Amid leadership tussle rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the former national Deputy Chairman of the party, Chief Bode George, on Monday said he has the political magic wand and skills to reposition the party.

George who stated this at a carnival-like flag-off of his campaign for the office of the national chairman of the party, which was held at the party’s secretariat in Lagos, pointed out that in the face of the current challenges, it is only a leader with uncommon leadership skills that can salvage the party.

He said, “These are not happy days for our party. The times appear dark and bleak. The horizon is uncertain. We are being assailed in every corner. Problems brew everywhere. Our challenges appear endless and intractable. Every day we are confronted with a new drama and with a new hurdle. Certainly, there are some obvious and not so obvious interests inside and outside our party who do not wish us well.”

George lamented that the party’s effectiveness as the opposition party is being rendered inconsequential and virtually of no value, saying the members have continued to engage themselves in destructive mutual consumption.

Harping on how the party derailed from its set objectives George said, “We were humble and fair. We were diligent without being arbitrary. We were self-confident without being aggressive. We were dedicated, disciplined, realistic without being crude, without being indifferent. We were loyal without being tainted with the distorting seeds of mercenary coloration.

“Times have changed! Our great party is no longer recognizable today. A lot of distortions have set in. Indiscipline has eroded the foundations of old. Selfishness and greed have compromised the great idealisms and the logical principles of our founding fathers.”

“We lost the presidential election because we had lost faith in the goals and the standards that had been erected by our founding fathers. We lost the election because we became distant and indifferent to the needs and the aspirations of the people.”

“The centerpiece of every democratic society is the embrace and the cultivation of the populist inclinations and necessities. Our campaign was hydra-headed without a coherent pivotal balance. We lacked direction and purposefulness. We ignored what was important to every man and woman and pretended everything was smooth and normal.”

He noted that the party cannot afford to be stampeded into making wrong decisions again or be hurried into entrusting the fate of the party to neophytes and inexperienced people.

“This is not the time for experimentation and whistling in the dark. This is not the time for untested characters and new-fangled moguls who are merely on a junketing spree. This is not the time for desperate time-servers and little men without vision.”

“Our party needs a rescue. Our party needs redemption. Our party deserves a balanced, experienced, tested, trusted and faithful hand. Our party needs a team player and a unifying leadership. Our party needs stability.”

“Here and now, I am humbly making a stand and a declaration as an aspirant for the position of the office of the National Chairman of our party with a vision to serve as a bridge builder, as a peace-maker and as a healer of the broken places,” he said.