August 29, (THEWILL) – The political crisis rocking the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued to rear its ugly head, no thanks to the relentless efforts of the two gladiators in the crisis – embattled National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus and his erstwhile jolly friend and godfather, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
Political watchers and members of the party believed the crisis had been settled, following the intervention of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
After resolving the crisis, the Board of Trustees and the PDP Governors Forum shifted the date of the party’s convention from December to October and said Secondus should be allowed to be in office till the end of the convention when a new executive would emerge.
But the situation changed last week, following a Rivers state court order, which restrained Secondus from parading himself as the chairman of the PDP, pending the determination of a suit before it.
After the initial power tussle, which led to the emergence of two acting national chairmen in the persons of the National Deputy Chairman (South ), Chief Yemi Akinwonmi and Deputy National Chairman (North), Suleman Nazif, the PDP governors Forum picked Akinwonmi as the Acting National Chairman of the party last Thursday.
The action of the Governors Forum showed that it obeyed the court order, which stopped Secondus from parading himself as the national chairman of the party.
As it is looking as if Wike has achieved what he couldn’t achieve a few weeks ago, which is the immediate removal of Secondus from his position as the National Chairman of the PDP, Secondus shocked the party when he also obtained a Kebbi State High Court injunction reinstating him as chairman last Thursday.
In a move that clearly showed his mastery of the game of politics, Wike seemed to have struck quickly and at the right time too by using a court order to achieve his aim.
A master strategist, Wike, it was gathered, was shocked two weeks ago when Secondus visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his Abeokuta hill-top mansion.
Although the visit was given wide media coverage, nobody knew the subject of the discussion between Secondus and Obasanjo as the meeting was held behind closed doors.
However, it was gathered that after the meeting Secondus boasted that nobody can force him out of office until he completes his tenure in December. Political watchers believe his move to reject the earlier decision of the NEC meeting after his surprise visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo might have led to a new trick by Wike to exploit a judicial option to deal with him .
On August 23, 2021, four members of the PDP in Rivers State namely, Ibeawuchi Ernest Alex; Dennis Nna Amadi; Emanuel Stephen and Umezirike Onuche approached a Rivers State High Court holden at Degema to seek an interim injunction restraining Uche Secondus from parading himself as the national chairman of the PDP and as a member of the PDP. Justice O. Gbasam granted the injunction and restrained Secondus from parading himself as PDP chairman.
But Secondus was unrelenting as he also secured a court injunction which reinstated him after the party’s BOT and the Governorship Forum had replaced him with Akinwonmi on Thursday.
The order granted by Justice Nusirat I. Umar of a High Court in Kebbi instructed Secondus to resume immediately in a suit filed by some members of the PDP in Kebbi.
The claimants in the suit, which has Secondus and the PDP as the first and second respondents, are Messrs Yahaya Usman, Abubakar Muhammad and Bashar Suleiman.
The order reads, “An order of interim injunction staying the purported suspension of the first respondent, pending the determination of the substantive motion on notice no: KB/HC/M.170/2021, now pending before this honourable court.
“An order of this honourable court granting leave to the first respondent (Uche Secondus) to continue exercising the constitutional powers of the Office of the Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party ( Second Defendant) as enshrined in both the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended and the People’s Democratic Party Constitution, pending the hearing and determination of the applicant’s motion on notice.”
Secondus on Friday took over the affairs of the party when the Deputy National Chairman South, Elder Yemi Akinwomi, who held forth in his absence upon receipt of the Court order handed over the affairs of the party to him.
At the brief handover, Prince Secondus pledged to continue providing astute leadership to the party.
Will the Kebbi Court injunction save the Andoni prince, who braced all odds to emerge as the PDP top helmsman in December 2017, having been backed by Governor Nyesom Wike and the then Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Ayodele Fayose? No one can say definitely as the two gladiators try to outsmart each other.
What then caused the rift between two jolly friends?
It was gathered that the role played by Secondus in the emergence of former Vice President and Turaki of Adamawa, Atiku Abubakar, as the presidential candidate of the PDP in 2019 surprised Wike. Wike openly told Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State during the primaries and he believed Secondus should pay him back by supporting his candidate. But he realised that the chairman he had helped enthroned didn’t back him, but supported Abubakar.
THEWILL gathered that Wike from that time refused to fund the party as he was doing before the primaries.
It was further gathered that since then there has been no love lost between Wike and Secondus.
Then the crisis that triggered Secondus’ current predicament began on August 3, 2021, when seven members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP resigned from their positions.
The officials resigned in separate letters written to the National Secretary of the party, Umar Tsauri, saying they could no longer work with Secondus. Those who resigned are the Deputy National Financial Secretary, Gerald Irona; Deputy National Organising Secretary, Hassan Yakubu; Deputy National Legal Adviser, Ahmed Liman, and Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Diran Odeyemi.
Others are the Deputy National Woman Leader, Hadizat Umoru; Deputy National Auditor, Divine Arong, and another official who could not be identified at the time of filing this report.
The intrigue that led to the ousting of Secondus reached its peak when some support groups within the party called for his removal. The groups, acting under the aegis of Save PDP Group and Coalition of PDP Youth Groups, made the call during a protest at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.
The leader of the groups, Tamunotonye Inioribo, while addressing journalists, said the protest was organised by a coalition of different PDP support groups, that were dissatisfied with the leadership of Secondus.
Mr Inioribo accused Secondus of polarising the party for his own selfish interest, while also alleging that he was responsible for the defection of three governors and some senators from the party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Under Secondus, the PDP Governors Forum, National Working Committee and other organs are divided.”
Mr Inioribo also alleged that no department of the PDP was functioning under Mr Secondus, and he was also creating factions within the party.
Political analysts however believe that Secondus is just a victim of power play, ahead of the 2023 presidency.
THEWILL gathered that the Southern PDP governors, including Wike, who are interested in the 2023 presidency believe the surest way of getting the ticket is to remove Secondus from the PDP Chairmanship position and also forestall his second term ambition.
Speaking with THEWILL, Lagos-based Public Affairs Commentator, Yinka Junaid, expressed the opinion that Wike is becoming too powerful in the PDP and needs to be cautioned.
“A single person should not be allowed to be dictating to the party. It is Secondus today, it may be another person tomorrow. The party should reposition itself to avoid the dominance of one person’s interest in its affairs,” Junaid said.
He said all the noise that Secondus did not perform well as PDP chairman was just about giving a dog a bad name to hang it.
He said, “It is to be noted that PDP as a party was at a low ebb when Secondus assumed office. It had just lost the presidential election for the first time since1999. It was a very hard beginning, having lost power after possessing it for 16 years at a stretch.
“Secondus spearheaded the repackaging of the party and he put it on a sound footing. To say he allowed PDP governors to defect to the ruling APC can’t be true. There was nothing he could have done to retain the governors who were enticed by the ruling party”.
Will this be the end of the crisis? This is the question that cannot be answered immediately.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
