PDP chair: Govs, others split over move to ‘impose’ Secondus

As the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention approaches, some governors of the party have allegedly commenced moves to ‘impose’ Prince Uche Secondus as the party’s next national chairman.

Secondus was deputy national chairman during the reign of Alhaji Ahmed Adamu Mu’azu, and became acting national chairman when his then embattle principal threw in the towel on May 20, 2015.

During his stint, Secondus, who was expected to hold forte for a few months, sat tight in the office until he was dragged to court by Barr. Ahmed Gulak, a former adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Credible sources within the party said some members of the PDP National Caretaker Committee and other key players were divided over Secondus’ choice by some governors, but were handling the situation to avoid crisis.

A reliable source from the South South said a governor from the region is leading the team of those praying for Secondus to takeover leadership from Makarfi.

“Secondus is his choice and he is forcing him on the party. So I can tell you that even among the governors, some of them are not in the picture of what the few are doing. This is imposition rearing its head.

“But in a free and fair contest, Secondus will not win because most of the northern delegates and even those from the South West will not vote for him.”

Another source, a former member of the House of Representatives, also confirmed that some governors and power brokers were gunning for Secondus, but secretly.

“They are drawing a slate. They want to confuse people by throwing up many aspirants for each position to later harmonize and get the candidates of their choice.

“Secondus is their choice but they just want to open the space for others to contest in order that there should be a sense of inclusive participation.

“And the convention is likely to go to Port Harcourt if they don’t have a consensus, but i f they do, they would hold it in Abuja.

“Look at what happened in Anambra primaries and the indications coming out from Ekiti. If we have not learnt from our past mistakes, we are finished,” the source said.

Secondus could not be reached and a text message sent to the Chairman of the PDP National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, was not responded to, and the party’s spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, simply said, “I’m not aware.”