PDP Crisis: Wike Goes For Broke

By James Orji

The failure by the Peoples Democratic Party,  PDP to hold its National Executive Council, NEC meeting earlier scheduled for Tuesday may have been as a result of a fresh plot to remove the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus. Behind the new onslaught, the magazine learnt, is Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state who appears unrelenting in his plot to sack the embattled chairman.

Secondus got a respite last week after the leaders of the party failed to agree on his ouster.

Indication has since emerged that top PDP leaders such as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Bukola Saraki, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state among others saved Secondus from being disgraced out of office, by a clique in the party led by Rivers helmsman, who are not happy with the leadership style of the PDP boss. Still, Secondus traducers appear not to have surrendered their plot to get him sacked.

The magazine learnt that the decision of Atiku and others not to support Governor Wike is not unconnected with the fact that, they all consider what is going on in the party as a solo effort by a powerful cabal in the party, led by the Rivers’ helmsman to hijack the PDP ahead the 2023 presidential election.

For instance, the trio of Atiku, Saraki and Governor Tambuwal (who until now is a close ally of Governor Wike) “has seen between the lines that Wike is trying to undermine the National Chairman for his own personal gain, majorly for the 2023 presidential election,” a source in the party said.

“These our leaders know that they have something to lose if Governor Wike who have shown the tendency to be a dictator is allowed to have his way. That, obviously, is not what these leaders want particularly considering that the 2023 election is a make or mar for the PDP.

“They will not allow one man to run the show of determining the party’s destiny,” the source said.

Governor Wike has denied he has presidential ambition.

Last week, the leaders of the party including PDP state governors and other top echelons brokered a truce which will allow the embattled chairman to remain in office until November when a new set of leaders who steer the affairs of the party will be elected at the party’s national convention.

The expanded stakeholders’ meeting, which comprised state governors, Board of Trustees, BoT, former ministers, former governors and National Assembly Caucus, who met in Abuja, also directed Secondus, to convene the NEC meeting to ratify the processes ahead of the October national convention.

In spite of the peace deal, the Rivers governor appears unsatisfied and still want Secondus to be sacked before the end of his tenure, sources in the party informed the magazine on Thursday.

‘Governor Wike is seriously working to ensure that the election is moved forward to October. He’s doing this to show that he still wields a great influence in the party and that his views cannot be totally disregarded on the future of Secondus as National Chairman, following a resolution by party leaders last week that the chairman should remain in office till November,” a member of NEC said in confidence.

Speaking on a live television interview in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, Wike said for the PDP to win the 2023 general elections, the Secondus-NWC must be removed.

According to him “If you go to the public and ask Nigerians if PDP is ready to take over power in 2023, if you take referendum, you will know that Nigerians are even waiting for PDP.

“But the fear of Nigerians is whether PDP is ready to take over power. So, people are concerned about it. Obviously, it is ripe for PDP to take over, but you must be prepared to take over.

“And we said with what we have now, it will be difficult to take over power in 2023 if there is no amendment. Leadership was the problem.”

He said Secondus cannot lead the party to a presidential victory.

“The point is this, the current NWC, as it is today, cannot lead the party to victory. Nobody has said they have not done well, one way or the other, but we are talking about the challenges ahead.

“That is why we are pushing for the party to have other people to lead the party and to give it a different strength altogether. If you know APC, you know that you need a robust, determined leadership of the party (PDP) to make sure you match them word by word, action by action,” Wike said.

Meanwhile, the magazine learnt that the reason why Governor Wike wants Secondus to be sacked by all means, may not be unconnected with his calculation that the embattled chairman, considering the bi-partisan support he now enjoys among major stakeholders in the party, could be re-elected for a fresh term.

The PDP Constitution allows the National Chairman to seek a re-election.