Crisis brews in PDP as governors, Secondus, NWC fight dirty

All is not well in the camp of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the misunderstanding between the party’s national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, and his chief sponsor, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, gets messier.

 

Wike wants Secondus sacked as soon as possible, party sources said on Saturday. Observers see the misunderstanding as a big threat to the party’s plan to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.

Sources also confirmed that the development is creating anxiety within the party ahead of its congress in December.

Investigation by The Nation indicates the emergence of at least two tendencies over the fate of Secondus and the National Working Committee (NWC) which he leads.

On one side is Wike, backed by some governors and PDP leaders, to sack Secondus and the NWC before their official exit date in December.

There is also Secondus leading his own supporters comprising some governors, members of the PDP Board of Trustees and some party leaders. This group is all out for his retention in office.

Secondus’ supporters brand him the “most transparent national chairman in the history of PDP, who does not take bribes from aspirants or candidates standing for any elective post.”

Sources told The Nation that it has been difficult to reconcile the anti-Secondus group with Wike as the arrowhead, and other interest groups within the party.

It was learnt that intra-party politics in the Rivers State chapter of PDP has “complicated” the relationship between Wike and Secondus.

While Wike is said to be scheming to hand over to a candidate from the upland area of the state which has been governing since 1999, Secondus prefers a riverine area.

The alleged presidential or vice presidential ambition of Wike in 2023 is another factor which has deepened the political cleavages between godfather and his godson. Secondus is said to be “not too keen on Wike’s ambition.”

Genesis of cold war

Sources traced the cold war between the duo to December 2020 when NWC members met with Wike in Port Harcourt during which he told the party executives that all of them would be sacked by January 2021.

Secondus and the NWC members worked round the clock to foil the plot.

It was gathered that efforts by some church and party leaders to reconcile the two sides have failed to yield any meaningful result, with Wike unrelenting in writing off Secondus and the NWC.

Although some party leaders have been hatching plans for an early national convention of the party, most leaders, including members of the National Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees, have opted for December.

A source in the NWC said: “At a time the PDP should be consolidating for 2023, there is a plot to remove all party executives before December when our National Convention ought to elect new leaders for the party.

“Those behind the sack of the National Chairman and the NWC have the full backing of Governor Wike who has some differences with Secondus.

“It is a carryover from the 2018 presidential primaries when Secondus refused to do the bidding of Wike.

“Governor Aminu Tambuwal, who was Wike’s favourite, lost out to ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

“Even some elders of the party and church leaders have tried to broker peace between Wike and Secondus but the governor insisted that the NWC must go.

“He does not want to wait till December when party executives will be democratically elected.

‘It is however going to be a fight-to-the-finish because PDP leaders in the North and South East are solidly behind Secondus and his team, whose tenure expires in December.

“It is not the first time that the governor will demand the exit of the NWC. Last December when Secondus led NWC members to him, he told all of us that we would be removed by January 2021.

“We are now in July. It shows that some forces in the party are greater than him.”

Wike, allies rally state chairmen

The Nation also gathered that in their bid to remove Secondus as party chairman before December or prevent his re-election at the congress, Wike and other PDP chieftains in his camp have been reaching out to state chairmen of the party.

According to party sources, some PDP governors opposed to Secondus’ continued stay in office have told the chairmen of the party in their various states to be prepared to work against the national chairman.

The governor is said to be particularly unhappy with Secondus for allowing the All Progressives Congress (APC), which according to him has governance challenge, to keep poaching PDP governors.

Three PDP governors –Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ben Ayade (Cross Rivers) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) have all dumped the PDP for the APC.

A state chairman in the south, who does not want to be named, confirmed to our reporter that delegates from his state would not support the national chairman should his case be up for discussion or at the congress in December.

He was quick to add that the decision is not his but that of the governor of his state.

Recalling some recent incidents in his zonal chapter of the party, the politician explained that Secondus lost the respect of his governor with his roles in the crisis.

He said: “I don’t need to pretend; the answer to your question is a capital NO. We will not support Secondus anywhere; neither at NEC meeting nor at the Congress in December.

“And you should understand this. My governor will not agree that we support him. You know the roles he played in the recent leadership crisis in our zone, don’t you?”

Another chairman from the Northcentral confirmed that governors of the party are unhappy with the national chairman, and this is creating confusion within the PDP.

While urging Secondus to reach out to the aggrieved governors before it is too late, the state party boss revealed that himself and his colleagues have been approached by some leaders of the party to support them in sacking the NWC of the party.

According to the former federal legislator, Secondus has been a good leader of the party. “That is why I went to him and told him when I was approached to join those plotting his removal. But he must act fast in the interest of the party.

“He cannot fight the governors. They control the party in their states and at the zonal level to a large extent.

“In my opinion, the number of governors against the national chairman is growing by the day.

“Yes, the majority of party elders are with Secondus because they like his independence and fairness in handling party affairs. But majority of our frontline governors are not in his camp, and this is not good for him or the party,” he explained.

Wike, in the run up to last year’s governorship primaries of the PDP in Edo State, had labeled some members of the party’s NWC as tax collectors.

The governor, who was reacting to suggestions that he was responsible for a court order restraining Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo Sate from participating in the PDP primaries, said such people would never tell the truth.

The governor said some members of the NWC were blackmailing him, and for that reason, he had to pull out of reconciliatory efforts in the Edo chapter of the PDP.

“I told them that in Edo State, we must handle the issue carefully and carry everybody along. They must respect human beings and not behave like tax collectors,” he said.

“I have had sleepless nights to resolve the issue in Edo State. The Governors of Edo, Adamawa, and Delta states know what I have done to resolve the issues in Edo State.

“As a result of this senseless accusation, I have pulled out of Edo State settlement. My integrity matters.

“Nobody will rubbish me by raising false accusations against me. I will fight back.” Nation