PDP Crisis: How Wike, Secondus Clashed At BoT Meeting

Tempers flared and emotion ran high during Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees meeting in Abuja last Thursday.

The details of the meeting came to public knowledge on Saturday with reports of influential members of the party having a go at each other.

The embattled National Chairman of the Party, Prince Uche Secondus, and the governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, had a heated exchange during the meeting which was convened by BoT to find a lasting solution to the crisis bedeviling the party.

The party has been embroiled in a devastating crisis engendered by Wike’s vehement opposition to Secondus as the PDP’s national chairman.

The crisis rocking the opposition worsened over the bid by political bigwigs in the party to grab the PDP structure ahead of the 2023 polls.

Secondus is battling to retain his chairmanship position while Wike is reportedly masterminding moves to ensure his removal before the party’s national convention.

It was also alleged that Tuesday’s resignation of seven members of the PDP National Executive Committee was part of the moves to remove Secondus and set up a caretaker committee, which would organise the next national convention.

However, the PDP BoT members, at a meeting on Thursday presided over by its Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin, insisted that Secondus should be allowed to complete his tenure, which would soon end.

The board members faulted what they termed as uncharitable and dispiriting comments by some party leaders, including Wike, against the National Working Committee, while condemning the way the NWC handled crises in some state chapters of the party, according to a report in PUNCH.

Both the Rivers governor and the PDP national chairman are from the same state.

Wike was also a major backer of Secondus when he was elected as the party’s national chairman less than four years ago.

Wike, a major financier and formidable personality in the party, attended the meeting as a BoT member.

His arrival at the meeting was said to have taken attendees by surprise as he was not a regular attendee at any of the party’s functions, apart from the PDP Governors’ Forum.

The governor was also accused by some people of being behind the resignation of some of the national officers of the party.

According to PUNCH, a source, who is also a member of the BoT, said Wike, in his remarks, expressed anger towards unnamed members of the party, who he said labelled him the party’s “Father Christmas.”

The source said, “Holding a magazine where he (the governor) said he was described as a Father Christmas, he said when he single-handedly paid the legal fees and other matters in the case that removed Ali Modu Sheriff as the national chairman of the party and rescued it from him, nobody called him such a name.

PDP: Secondus Gets Lifeline As Wike Tasks BoT

“He said he had been paying the rent for the Legacy Building (PDP Presidential Campaign office in Abuja), yet nobody described him using such language. He said if he was not a party man, he could probably have used such money to also marry four wives. He also said he had not told anyone that he wanted to be the presidential candidate of the party in 2023 as insinuated in some quarters. ”

Wike was also said to have paid the salaries of some of the staff members of the party, while other governors and influential members felt unconcerned.

The source disclosed that Wike also accused Secondus of polarising the PDP Governors’ Forum as some of its members were behind the national chairman, while others were with the governor.

As soon as he ended his speech, Wike was said to have made an attempt to leave the meeting, but Secondus, according to the source, said it would be wrong for the governor to leave without hearing from him.

“If you attack me, I will attack you!” Wike was said to have fired back at Secondus. This remark was said to have made attendees to laugh hilariously.

However, sources said Secondus challenged Wike on claims that he was seeking another term.

“He told the governor to name anyone he had informed that he was running for a second term. He also said that the party would determine who would be the next national chairman of the party and that the party was bigger than himself. He said the governor should play the role of a father,” the source added.

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