Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman Uche Secondus’ woes increased at the weekend with more calls for his resignation.
The latest came from PDP House of Representatives Caucus and a group simply known as PDP Frontliners.
In the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), ward chairmen in Akwa Ibom State at the weekend tackled the Interim National Secretary of the Caretaker Committee, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, on the electoral misfortunes of the party in state.
They demanded his removal as APC caretaker secretary and the sack of the state caretaker committee for allegedly mismanaging the last congresses of the party.
The renewed calls for Secondus to quit are coming ahead of today’s crucial meeting of PDP’s elders, set up last week after the Board of Trustees (BoT) failed to end the crisis over Secondus.
The demand for Secondus resignation by the PDP House of Representatives members is one of the resolutions reached during their virtual meeting on Saturday.
In a communique by their Chairman, Kingsley Chinda, and Deputy Chairman, Chukwuka Onyema, the members urged the PDP chairman to make “personal sacrifice worthy of a leader by honourably resigning immediately to allow the party an early start.”
Secondus is accused of running the PDP “from his home” and only surfacing in the party office for meetings.
The lawmakers said they were “concerned that a further three months under Secondus leadership would do grave injustice to the party and put us in a precarious situation as every hour should matter now.”
They requested the BOT and the Governors Forum of the party to ensure immediate and firm resolution of current challenges so as to enable the re-engineering of the party.
The lawmakers noted that while stakeholders were trying to stem PDP misfortunes, Secondus did not appear to see the “cauldron” awaiting the nation’s main opposition party.
They added that while the chairman could be said to have contributed notably to the party in the past, “cogent accusations currently being leveled against his leadership far transcended personal issues.”
The caucus members also observed that there was an established consistent and persistent pattern of inadequate consultations by Secondus.
They said his style of leadership has given rise to hitherto unspoken feelings of intra-party alienation in several quarters, including the National Working Committee (NWC), headed by him.
The statement reads partly: “Members of the PDP House of Representatives Caucus met and deliberated extensively on various aspects of concern being expressed by members of the party across the federation.
“Specifically, on the current charge of inept leadership against our national chairman (Prince Uche Secondus) and honourable members note as follows:
“Whereas members of the PDP and millions of Nigerians nationwide anticipate vigorous and well-coordinated issue-based national opposition; preparations towards a national convention as well as the 2023 general elections, much confusion, finger-pointing, and needless noise around the party’s national headquarters have obfuscated the noble objectives and lofty ideals of the PDP and democratic opposition politics in Nigeria.
“The national chairman seems much more contented with occupying the office and therefore, preoccupied with holding onto his position rather than preparing for the next elections; this explains for his inexplicably missing endless opportunities that ought to have been utilised for consolidating a viable opposition; skewing party congresses to favour personal future ambition and frustrating genuine party members across states, which has resulted in the mass exit of party members at the National Assembly.
“There is no clear road map, blueprint or policy programme for the PDP by the chairman. Thus, the party is allowed to flow with the tide, only showing up with weak press releases once in a while without commensurate sustainable action.
“We note too that the lax and bedroom managerial attitude of the chairman, who runs the party from his home and only surfaces in the party office for meetings, coupled with several promises without commensurate action has led to inept management of complaints, despondency amongst members and consequently an exodus of members of the party at all levels, including a member of the Board of Trustee of the party.
“Such has manifested into or encouraged or fueled the exit of many prominent and highly-experienced party members with many more at the brink of leaving, if nothing is done fast.”
In a swift reaction, the PDP chairman said the two signatories to the communique – Chinda and Onyema are not the leaders of the Caucus in the Green Chamber.
In a WhatsApp message to our reporter yesterday, Secondus’s Media Adviser Ike Abonyi stated: “You know the story. They are not the leaders. Call Ndudi Elumelu (House Minority Leader) to confirm it. Two of them cannot be the Caucus.”
Our correspondent’s calls to Elumelu’s mobile telephone number were not answered and he did not reply to a text message seeking his response to the matter.
Also, the PDP Frontliners said Secondus must go because the interest of the PDP “surpasses any individual’s agenda to perpetuate himself in office.”
The group’s President, Hussein Mohammed; Secretary, Moses Abidemi and Publicity Secretary, Dan Okafor stated this during a news conference in Kaduna.
They advised that Secondus should quit to “allow vibrant changes that would prepare the party for electoral victory in 2023.”
The trio added: “Instead of being allowed to sit pretty over an imagined fiefdom, Secondus, who ought to have gone a long time, must go now.
“He has never proven to have any capacity for being a political war general and his laissez-faire style of leadership during preparations for the 2023 general elections can only culminate into really atrocious results.
“He(Secondus) never attends to administrative work; never holds formal meetings with other organs of the party; doesn’t even know his deputies. zonal executive members and members of state executives are called only in emergency situations.
“Secondus ought to have gone. It is up to the PDP Board of Trustees, the PDP Governors’ Forum, and the PDP Caucuses in the National Assembly to do the needful; Secondus must please, go now.”
- APC ward chairmen tackle Akpanudoedehe
Ward chairmen of the APC in Akwa Ibom State have blamed Akpanudoedehe for the electoral misfortunes of the party in the state.
According to them, Akpanudoedehe’s highhandedness and penchant for arrogating all powers to himself caused the APC to lose elections in 2015 and 2019.
They warned that the party might lose out again in the state in 2023, if his excesses were not checked.
While calling for the immediate removal of Akpanudoedehe as national secretary of the APC, they announced the suspension of the chairman of the state Caretaker Committee, Ita Udosen, for causing the confusion that attended last Saturday’s ward congresses in the state.
Chairman of the Ward Chairmen’s Forum, Saviour Williams, stated this at a news conference in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
About 256 of 329 members of the forum attended the news conference.
Williams said: ‘’We say that the Ward Congress Committee was never constituted in readiness for that congress. Nobody was interviewed and nothing was done to prepare for the congresses.
‘’We also want to state that the list of the aspirants for the ward congress was not published; neither were the aspirants screened in line with the provisions our party’s constitution.
“We affirm the suspension of Dr. Ita Udosen, the state secretary and entire members of the State Working Committee of the party.
‘’We pass a no-confidence vote on the National Caretaker Secretary, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, based on his biased role in the failed congress.
“We, therefore, call for his removal as national caretaker secretary of the party. His governorship ambition is not bigger than the party’’.
But, Akpanudoedehe dismissed the allegations as ‘unfounded and untrue.’
He said that fifth columnists within the Akwa Ibom chapter of the APC were blackmailing him.
‘’Whatever fifth columnists in the APC are doing trying to destroy the party, it is not Senator Akpanudoedehe. They don’t have any reason to call for his removal,’’ his Press Secretary, Ata Etuk, told The Nation.