PDP Crisis Enters Another Phase as Secondus, Obeying Court Order, Hands Over to Deputy

•New helmsman suspends NWC indefinitely

•Embattled chair moves to vacate ruling

Chuks Okocha, Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Ugo Aliogo in Lagos

The leadership crisis besetting the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, took a different turn, when the embattled National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, in obedience to a Rivers High Court order, abdicated his office and handed over to his deputy, Elder Yemi Akinwonmi

And in what many considered a masterstroke, Akinwonmi, upon assuming office immediately suspended the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party and indefinitely.

But Secondus, who has been restrained from parading himself as the national chairman of PDP, has also commenced moves to vacate the controversial order against him by Justice O. Gbasah of the Rivers State High Court.

Believed to have been instigated by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, the court order had thrown the reconciliation moves commenced by the expanded PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) and the governors elected on the platform of the party into jeopardy.

The court, sitting in Port Harcourt, had granted an order of interim injunction stopping Secondus from parading himself as the PDP national chairman.

The order was made following a suit filed against the party chairman and the PDP by some members of the party identified as Ibeawuchi Ernest Alex, Dennis Nna Amadi, Emmanuel Stephen and Umezirike Onucha.

Justice O. Gbasah ordered Secondus to stop parading himself as a member of the PDP (the second defendant).

Justice Gbasah further restrained Secondus from attending or presiding over any meeting of the PDP or any committee of the party at ward, local government or state government levels.

The court also barred Secondus from calling for any ward, local government or sate congress or setting up committees for such congresses or participating in any activity of the PDP whatsoever while on suspension as a member of PDP.

Before the court order, the NWC had scheduled a meeting to discuss the new date for the National Executive Committee (NEC).

But the meeting was not to be as Secondus immediately handed over the leadership of the party to Akinwonmi, who in turn adjourned the meeting of the NWC till further notice.

The PDP constitution states that Secondus should hand over to his deputy and he has done that in line with the party constitution

He said in a statement that, according to “Section 45 (2) of the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party, it empowers me to summon and preside over party meetings in the absence of the national chairman.

“Our attention was drawn yesterday evening to a court order which purports to restrain our National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus from summoning and presiding over the meetings of the organs of the party.

“In the foregoing circumstances, as Deputy National Chairman (South) of the Peoples Democratic Party, after consultations and in exercise of the aforesaid powers, I hereby deem it fit and prosper to postpone the National Working Committee meeting earlier scheduled for today until further notice to allow for broader consultations in the overall interest of our party.”

Akinwomi has been recuperating from a protracted illness and had to sign his public announcement with a thumb print publicly videoed.

The deputy national chairman of the party, north, Suleiman Nazif, had before now held series of meeting in an Abuja to oust Secondus from office

He was seen as the anchor person for anti-Secondus elements within the NWC.

The National Legal Adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem, later disclaimed the meeting stating that it was only a national convention could remove the National Working Committee (NWC) or any national officer.

Enoidem issued a rejoinder to the communique by some NWC members after the meeting in Abuja.

Six out of the nine voted for the sack of Secondus.

At the meeting were Deputy National Chairman (North), Suleiman Nazif; National Secretary, Umar Tsauri; National Auditor, Adamu Mustapha; and National Financial Secretary, Abdulahi Maibasira.

Others were Youth Leader, S. K. Udeh-Okoye; Vice Chairman (SW), Taofiq Arapaja; Vice Chairman (SE), Ali Odefa; Vice Chairman (SS), Dan Orbih, and Vice chairman (NC), Chief Theophilus Dakas.

“The matter of his resignation was put to vote, six members voted that he should resign and three members abstained from voting,” the communique read.

Six NWC members who voted against Secondus were Nazif, Mustapher, Udeh- Okoye, Arapaja, Orbih and Odefa.

The PDP body comprises 18 members, including six national vice chairmen from the geopolitical zones.

But Enoidem said by Section 29 (3) and Subsection (4) of the PDP constitution, only the national chairman or a summon by two-thirds of NWC members could convene a meeting.

He noted that the action of the officials was “in utter disdain and violation of clear extant provisions of our constitution”.

Enoidem maintained that the issue of resignation of any officer at any level was a personal decision as stipulated in Sections 45(1) & 47(5).

“There is no provision in our constitution, which donates powers to any individuals to ask an officer of the party to resign for any reason whatsoever, as was purported in the so called press release.

“The powers to remove any member of the NWC and indeed any national officer is reserved in the national convention, which is due for December 2021,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Secondus has commenced moves to vacate the court order against the leadership of the party.

Some stakeholders wanted him to approach another high court in Abuja or elsewhere, but, he insisted that he would follow due processes of law to vacate the court order.

THISDAY gathered that he chose to legally follow the due process and at press time, his counsel, Emeka Etiaba has moved to Port Harcourt for the processes.

In another development, governors elected on the platform of the PDP have summoned an emergency for Thursday, to address the crisis rocking the party.

Chairman of the PDP governors forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, summoned the meeting, which would take place at the Akwa Ibom State Government Lodge.

A fortnight ago, the governors summoned an emergency meeting after the seven national deputies resigned their membership of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

Thursday’s meeting might not be unconnected to the court order in Rivers State restraining Secondus from parading himself as the national chairman of the party.

Though in obedience to the order, Secondus handed over the affairs of the party to Akinwonmi, but Nazif refused to accept that the deputy national chairman from the south should preside over the affairs of the party.

The PDP constitution in Section 47 (6) stated that in the absence of the national chairman,the deputy national chairman from the zone of the national chairman should preside.

But Nazif has also summoned an emergency NEC meeting to take place on Friday, whileAkinwonmi in another statement late Tuesday night had described the meeting as illegal and urged members of NEC to ignore it.

“I will not blame Uche Secondus for the present crisis facing the party because I am from a culture, where you don’t blame your boss. So, he is my boss and I cannot blame him for the crisis.

“The present crisis facing the party will not in any way affect the party’s 2023 election campaigns. When you say someone is a chairman, he has people working with him to promote the interest of the party, so his own role is to direct the affairs of the party. He is not to do the ground work; people doing the work are there.

“So it will not affect the smooth operations of the party. Let me also state here that the ongoing crisis will not affect the party congresses and everything will go as planned. I have the backing of the Board of Trustees (BoT) to preside over party meetings, that is why I’m going to Abuja,” Akinwonmi said.

But a former National Vice Chairman of the PDP, South-south, Mr Emmanuel Ogidi has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of deploying moles in the opposition party, because of the 2023 general election.

Speaking on Arise News Television, Ogidi noted that the PDP had disciplinary measures in place to punish any errant member, insisting that that APC made use of a similar strategy in 2016, when it allegedly sent Modu Sheriff to destabilise the party.

“What is happening today is all politics. And it’s all about 2023. In 2016, we had a similar incident, when Modu sheriff invaded our party. APC brought in a mole and of course, you know what happened. We couldn’t hold a convention but we were able to smoke him out.

“I also suspect very well that the APC is back there again. So, it is all politics. What I want to say is that the party is aware of what is going on at the moment and we are going to respond appropriately. We have a procedure for disciplining our members and we have to follow the procedures, because our constitution says so,” he said.