Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are making efforts to save the party from descent into crisis, just few months to its National Convention of the party. Seven deputy national officers of the party, on Tuesday, resigned, citing bad treatment by National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.
The National Youth Leader, Sunday Ude- Okoye, also threatened to resign if the National Chairman fails resign his position. Since the crisis broke out, PDP leaders have been holding a series of meetings over the crisis peace in the party. One of the meetings was held on Tuesday night at Legacy House, and was attended by some members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) and other party stakeholders. The PDP National Chairman, who is at the centre of the crisis, also met with representatives of the aggrieved deputy national officers.
A source at the stakeholders’ meeting said party leaders were told to go back to their constituencies and consult with their people on the state of the party. There was, however, no timeline for the consultations. At the meeting with four representatives of the aggrieved deputy national officers on Wednesday, the source said the National Chairman preached for harmonious working relationship “to end the tenure as a team.” The representatives, however, promised to report back to the people who sent them before responding to the peace overtures. New Telegraph also learnt that Secondus was not losing too much sleep over the current situation as it affects him because he is backed by the party’s constitution which allows only the National Convention to remove a party chairman.
“Let me tell you if it is true that he (Secondus) had misappropriated money concrete facts would have been presented to the public. But so far all we are hearing are allegations where are the facts? If they had them it would have been used to nail him,” said the source, who confessed that the moral of staying in office if found to have committed financial maleficence would have been too much for him to remain in office.”
The official blamed the crisis on the ambitions of some party members who know that with Secondus still in charge they cannot have their way. He said: “The Chairman has acted in accordance with the constitution of the PDP. Those fighting him have realised that he is not ready to bend the rules to suit the whims of some ambitious people.
“I can confidently tell you that Secondus who was voted in on December 10, 2017 will serve out his tenure which ends this December, because the bulk of the party hierarchy is solidly behind him.” In a related development, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has washed his hands off in the leadership crisis in the party. Atiku was in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for what was reported as “a reconciliation meeting” with the state governor, Nyesom Wike. There were insinuations that the former vice president has a hand in the plot to remove the PDP National Chairman. But his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe described it as “beer parlour talk.” Ibe in a telephone interview with journalists said Atiku made similar visit to Delta State and is preparing to undertake other visits to other states in the country. According to the source, Atiku has no interest in Sec-ondus’ removal, adding that he: “Understands the constitution of the PDP and what the party stated about tenure for party leadership. The official said: “So he cannot be working against something that he understands and promotes.
That is not how democrats behave; those are anti-democratic behaviour and that is not who he is. “Whoever is saying this, should know is beer parlour talk and unnecessary mischief.” Ibe source said Atiku had commenced the process of resolving the crisis, stating that as a major stakeholder in the party, the former vice president has taken steps to bring everybody together to see how the issues can be peacefully resolved. While former Chairman of the PDP Reconciliation Committee, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, called for emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party to take appropriate decisions to stabilise the party, former President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki who is Chairman of Reconciliation and Strategy Committee, declined comment.
His Media Aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu simply referred New Telegraph to the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan. Dickson who now represents Bayelsa West in the Senate, called on the National Chairman to invoke his “powers under the constitution to discipline erring members involved in the nefarious plot to destroy the party”. He also called for the replacement any member of the National Working Committee (NWC) who resigns his position. Meanwhile, media adviser to the PDP National Chairman, Ike Abonyi alleged that the plot to remove Secondus is to hijack the party structure by an unnamed party chieftain.
[News Telegraph]