There seems to be no end to the lingering crisis threatening the tenure of National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus as the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) on Thursday failed to reach a consensus on the leadership crisis, The Nation reports.
Consequently, the party opted for further consultations with PDP Governors, National Assembly members, the National Working Committee, former governors, former ministers and others.
A camp within the party believed to be spearheaded by the Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike is up in arms with the Secondus, calling for the removal of the party chairman from office.
The crisis appeared to have divided the party into two opposing camps, with one camp seeking Secondus’ ouster while the other wants chairman to serve out his tenure, which ends in December.
Although it was held behind closed doors, a snippet of what might have formed the agenda of the meeting could be deduced from part of the party chairman’s address during the opening ceremony.
Secondus had, during his address, pointed out that it would not augur well for the party if resolutions reached by the meeting were contrary to the smooth running of the ongoing process that would lead to the next party convention expected to hold in December.
The likely inference from his remark was the present National Working Committee (NWC) which he presides over ought to be allowed to serve out its tenure.
But the chairman was interjected midway into his address by a member of the BoT, Mr Abdul Ningi, who drew his attention to the presence of journalists at the venue and asked him to save his comments for the meeting proper.
Two former Senate Presidents, David Mark and Bukola Saraki, who briefed journalists after the meeting, skirted around issues as they carefully crafted their responses to journalists’ inquiries.
Mark said the meeting resolved to set up a committee to look into the situation, adding the intended committee would comprise the party’s governors, National Assembly members, BoT members, the NWC, former governors and former ministers.
When asked what the mandate of the committee would be, Mark said: “It will not only stop the current crisis, it will lead to providing a better environment to make us far more united and make us stronger as a party”.
Saraki said: “We all came together to address some issues and because of the urgency of the matter, we agreed to set up this committee urgently and within the next 48 to 72 hours.
“They (committee) will meet and at the end of that meeting, the country will see the direction the party is going. The commitment of everybody to attend that meeting and subject themselves to the decision of that meeting showed the interest of everybody.
“The presence of all us here is because this meeting of today was important in addressing some of those issues. My own message to Nigerians is that we know the importance of this party to this nation in addressing the challenges ahead of us. So let us come together as a party and salvage this country”.
