PDP Leadership: Secondus Vows To Fight On, Refuses To Withdraw Court Case

PDP Leadership: Secondus Vows To Fight On, Refuses To Withdraw Court Case

The last may not have been heard about the leadership crisis rock­ing the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) as the erst­while national chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, has vowed to pursue the case which led to his abrupt remov­al to a logical conclusion, Daily Independent has gathered.

Credible sources in the party said several chieftains of the party, including retired Generals and elder statesmen, have been mounting pressure on Secondus to withdraw the case he instituted at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal challenging his removal from office.

Secondus had prayed the appellate court to affirm that his four-year tenure ends on December 9, 2021.

He also asked the appellate court to quash the orders of the two high courts that restrained him as the national chairman of the party.

In the suit, Secondus also asked the court to nullify his suspension, insisting that sec­tion 59(3) of the PDP constitu­tion clearly stated that the ward or the state executive commit­tee of any state has no powers to suspend any national officer of the party.

A top source in the party had told Daily Independent on Wednesday that Secondus had accepted his fate and moved on, with a promise to help the par­ty achieve a successful national convention on October 30 and 31 which will deliver a new na­tional leadership for the party.

A top source in the party had told Daily Independent on Wednesday that Secondus had accepted his fate and moved on, with a promise to help the par­ty achieve a successful national convention on October 30 and 31 which will deliver a new na­tional leadership for the party.

“He (Secondus) has since accepted his fate and moved on because the party has moved beyond the issue of any leader­ship crisis. Nobody is talking about any leadership crisis again. We have since left that behind.

“All our efforts are geared towards conducting a success­ful national convention and repositioning our party ahead of the forthcoming Anambra governorship election in No­vember, the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections and the 2023 polls”.

However, when contacted a close associate of Secondus on Wednesday, who spoke on con­dition of anonymity, said all those who are saying Secondus has resigned to fate “will soon receive the shocker of their lives as the man has promised to pursue the case to a logical conclusion.

“We are in total support of this. Our position is very clear. Even if you don’t want him as national chairman again, why not allow him complete his term and leave? Why disgrace him out of office few weeks to the end of his tenure as if he committed a crime?

“Here is a man who has sacrificed the larger part of his political life for PDP, why then are some few elements led by the Rivers State governor be al­lowed to rubbish all his efforts in the last three years? That is injustice and we are not going to allow that to happen. We have told him not to withdraw the case and we are giving him our maximum support on this”, he said.

Also speaking on the issue, a member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) informed Daily Independent that the stalemate is due to the inability of the Sen­ator David Mark-led committee saddled with the responsibility of finding a lasting solution to the plethora of court cases, as well as conflict of interests between feuding party leaders to make the warring parties sheathe their sword.

He said Secondus’ refusal to withdraw his court case was due to the inability of the Mark committee to persuade Gover­nor Wike to also withdraw the original case in Rivers High Court which led to Secondus ouster from office.

“The bottom line is that the Senator Mark committee couldn’t get Wike to withdraw the original case from court. So Secondus is adamant about withdrawing his challenge. That’s the situation for now”, he said.

In a related development, the PDP National Convention Committee on Zoning headed by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State will meet today to announce zoning of offices for the National Working Com­mittee (NWC) in the forthcom­ing national convention.

Since its inauguration, the 44-member zoning committee, which has Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue as Deputy Chairman and Mahdi Aliyu Mohammed, Zamfara Depu­ty Governor as Secretary, has been inundated with several requests by party leaders across the six geo-political zones on the need to zone key positions in the NWC to their region.

A key source in the party said based on the tradition in the PDP laid down by the found­ing fathers, the zoning com­mittee may rotate the current position in the NWC whereby the next national chairman will emerge from the North.

He said the argument in the party at the moment now is that it will be unjust for an­other Southerner to emerge as national chairman after the South has held the position in the last four years.

“It is likely the rotational policy in PDP is maintained. If that is done, the current po­sitions being held by the North will come to the South while those being held by Southern­ers will go to the North. If that is done, then the next national chairman will come from the North since the last occupant, Secondus, is from the South”, he said.

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