Secondus: Nigeria Bleeding, in Desperate Need of Good Leaders

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus yesterday said Nigeria was bleeding and in dire need of good leaders in strategic positions to heal it.

A statement from the National Chairman’s media office, signed by Ike Abonyi, quoted Secondus to have said that the country was currently in desperate need of quality persons with patriotism in their veins as leaders to lift it out of the woods.

According the statement, the National Chairman, who gave the advice when he handed over governorship nomination certificates of the PDP to two candidates for November 16, elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states, said the citizens “are gripped in fear.”

“Everyone in this country today is living in fear of either hunger or insecurity and the situation calls for all hands to be on deck”, he said.

Secondus said there was the need to pay careful attention to the alarm from the World Bank about the nation’s economy going insolvent unless urgent steps were taken to address the situation.

He charged the gubernatorial flag bearers in the two states to see their victory as invitation to serve, and not to be masters over their people.

He admonished them to see their victory in the spirit of no Victor no vanquished and that they should strive to bring all PDP families together for the enormous challenges ahead.

He said: “It’s not yet time for celebration, bring your people together and get to work immediately as time is of essence.

“A totally reformed PDP does not believe in the winner takes it all. Moreover, the work ahead requires all hands to be pulled together in the two states to achieve the inevitable victory.

“The transparency that greeted your primaries is a continuation of our vow to have internal democracy working in our party which was demonstrated to the world last October at the Presidential primaries when PDP conducted the freest and fairest ever Presidential primaries in the nation’s political history.”

The statement said the National Organising Secretary of the party, Col Austin Akobundu rtd, whose office supervised the contest, had earlier presented certificates to the two candidates, and declared the process that produced them as clean and transparent.

The two candidates, Senator Douye Diri of Bayelsa State and Engr. Musa Wada of Kogi State, in their acceptance remarks, promised to work hard to carry PDP as a family to victory by November 16.

Wada said the APC incumbent government in the state had made it the violence capital of Nigeria, but noted that while they hope to win in a peaceful manner, it was also necessary to underscore that nobody has monopoly of violence.