Intrigues As PDP Chiefs Plan Life After Secondus

The seeming resolution of the crisis that recently engulfed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP over the stewardship of Prince Uche Secondus as national chairman has opened the way for another battle of intrigues over the party’s future ahead of 2023.

Key to the intrigues, it was gathered from party chieftains, is the zoning configuration of party offices which is also expected to set a direction for the zoning of the 2023 elective and appointive national offices.

At the resolution of the crisis earlier in the week it had been resolved that the Secondus leadership would put machinery in place for the zoning and also for the national convention expected to come up in October.

A senior party source, however, disclosed that after the strong battles against him, that Secondus is still battle weary and not in a hurry. The meeting of the National Working Committee, NWC to shape the issues generated from the Tuesday meeting, it was gathered, would not come up before next Tuesday at the earliest.

Though one of the points canvassed by the anti-Secondus forces at the strategic stakeholders’ meeting of governors, former governors, former principal officers of the National Assembly among others was for Secondus and the present NWC not to recontest, sources disclosed that that stance was, however, left out of the communique.

A source revealed that a notable lawyer present and former minister, Tanimu Turaki had canvassed that it would run foul of the PDP’s constitution which provided NWC members the right to a second tenure.

 GreenWhiteGreen GWG, however, reports that no national chairman of the party had served a second term. None in the era of the four year tenure system which began with Chief Audu Ogbeh has also finished his term and considered a second term.

Party insiders say that Secondus’ bid to upturn that record was one of the issues he had with some of the party’s principal influence pullers, particularly Governor Nyesom Wike.

A second term for Secondus, party sources said, would also have destroyed the chance of the South-South getting the ticket of president or vice-president.

Though, a senior party official disclosed that Secondus may not have completely aborted his second term plans, party leaders are said to be now gravitating towards the Southwest, which is the only zone in the country that is not averse to having the national chairman. All other zones with an eye to the presidential or vice-presidential tickets are said to be pushing the office of national chairman away from their zones.

The leading candidate for the office in the Southwest, it was gathered is Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the penultimate governor of Osun State.

“With Oyinlola, PDP will be killing two birds with one stone,” a party insider told  GreenWhiteGreen GWG.

“With him we have Obasanjo (President Olusegun Obasanjo) and IBB,” the source said.

Meanwhile,  GreenWhiteGreen GWG  gathered that canvassers for Atiku Abubakar’s 2023 aspiration were also not particularly averse to the exit of Secondus despite the earlier notion that he was serving the interest of the campaign.

“You can see what happened with Atiku visiting Wike and it tells you that nothing is impossible in politics,” the source said.

It was gathered that Atiku was looking towards pairing with any of the South-South governors in 2023.

After burning up to N30 billion in 2019, Atiku it was gathered was now looking towards any of the governors from the South-South willing to throw in help towards actualizing his aspiration.

Despite the rapprochement with Atiku which was helped by the former vice-president’s seeming quietness in the push against Secondus, the running mate offer from Atiku it was gathered is not Wike’s for the taking. It was gathered that the ticket remains open to any of the three eligible South-South governors; Wike, Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) or Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta).

It is a development that is bound to upset the Southeast and the aspiration of the zone which has made a bristling campaign for the president to come from the region.

Besides the money factor, the Atiku Campaign it was gathered, is also conscious of the fact that the PDP has become a minority in the Southeast zone with the party controlling only two of the five states.

The Atiku Campaign is, however, expected to appoint a high profile Southeast person as campaign director general with the person emerging as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in the event of a victory.

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