Three governors of the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); are Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State are opposed the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus.
It was learnt that the plot to remove the chairman before the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting was part of moves to thwart his re-election at the party’s national convention, which would hold in November.
PDP Governors are sharply divided over the fate of party National Chairman Uche Secondus.
The National Working Committee (NWC) sank deeper into crisis with Tuesday’s resignation of seven members.
Those that resigned are: the Deputy National Publicity Secretary Diran Odeyemi; Deputy National Legal Adviser Ahmed Bello; Deputy National Women Leader Hadizat Umoru; and Deputy National Auditor Divine Amina Arong.
Others are Deputy National Organising Secretary Hassan Yakubu and Deputy National Financial Secretary Irona Alphonsus.
Their grouse about the party is what they termed Secondus poor leadership.
Those who resigned gave a 30-day notice but the NWC told them after a meeting on Wednesday that they should go immediately, it was learnt.
The NWC’s tenure ends in December but Governor Nyesom Wike is leading the group seeking the termination of party officers’ tenure before the terminal date.
Things got to a head yesterday when the governors took different positions for and against the Secondus-led NWC.
Nine out of 14 governors are for Secondus. Three are against. The remaining two are sitting on the fence.
“The crisis in the party has caused a split among its governors. They are not on the same page despite last month’s meeting in Bauchi, where they appeared to be united.
“Secondus has pulled a counter-string by running to PDP governors and former governors”, he said.
It was learnt last night that governors backing Secondus are Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi(Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu(Abia), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Darius Ishaku(Taraba), Duoye Diri(Bayelsa), Ifeanyi Okowa(Delta) and Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto). Deputy Governor Mahdi Aliyu Gusau (Zamfara) is also with him.
Those opposed to Secondus and his team are Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa). Also against him is a former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who has issues with Governor Ugwuanyi on the zoning of governorship ticket in Enugu State.
Governors Samuel Ortom (Benue) and Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom) are on the fence.
It was learnt that Tambuwal, who is chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, had started mobilising support for Secondus.
But sources in the PDP told one of our correspondents that Secondus’s opponents feared that if the chairman was allowed to convene the NEC meeting, where members of the convention/election committee would be chosen, he would plant his loyalists in the committee thus paving the way for his re-election.
Recall there were reports on Tuesday that a crisis had hit the PDP National Working Committee following the resignation of seven members.
It was gathered that the anti-Secondus forces thought the mass resignation would force the chairman out of the office or lead to the setting up of a caretaker committee to replace the NWC before the national convention where new national officers would emerge.
A member of the NWC, who confided in one of our correspondents on Wednesday, said, “The crisis is about the control of the party ahead of the 2023 elections.
Wike and others, who are opposed to Secondus strongly believe that if he is allowed to convene and preside over the NEC meeting, where the national convention/election committee members will be chosen, he will ensure that his supporters are members, thus his re-emergence as the national chairman will be easy. They believe that Secondus should not preside over his re-election.”
But Tambuwal on Wednesday started rallying support for the embattled chairman.
One of our correspondents gathered that Tambuwal cut short his visit to Ghana to rush down to Abuja for an emergency session with some of his colleagues.
As Tambuwal moves to save the embattled chairman heightened, the Chairman of the party Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jubin, summoned an emergency meeting of the board which would be held today.
It was learnt that Tambuwal, who started reaching out to his colleagues on Tuesday night was being supported by Senator Seriake Dickson, who was coordinating members of the party in the National Assembly.
A high-ranking member of the party’s leadership, who confided in one of our correspondents, said contrary to reports on Wednesday, those who resigned were not members of the NWC.
He stated, “In all honesty, no member of the National Working Committee has resigned yet, yes there are threats but no one has resigned.
“The seven deputies who resigned yesterday were members of the National Executive Committee, not the NWC.
“However, their decision also makes the party look bad. We know an individual who is hell-bent on causing chaos in the party because of a personal ambition. But he will soon realise that the PDP is bigger than any individual. We have survived the worst. I know Tambuwal and Dickson are mobilising support for Secondus.”
In what appears to be worsening of the situation, a member of the party’s Board of Trustees, Senator Joy Emordi, also dumped the party to join the APC. The decision was announced by the Director-General Media to the APC National Chairman, Mamman Mohammed, in Abuja, on Wednesday.
Emordi’s decision came barely 24 hours after seven members of the party’s NEC resigned from the committee.