Fresh Crisis Rocks PDP 5 Days After Convention

Barely one week after its national elective convention, fresh crisis is brewing in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the outcome of last Saturday’s election.

Not satisfied with the election of the party’s national executive, some aggrieved candidates and stakeholders have threatened to form a parallel National Working Committee (NWC).

Despite ongoing post conventions reconciliation process, the aggrieved candidates, who rejected the results arising from the election at the national convention, are demanding the immediate release of what they called the authentic results of the actual votes cast by delegates at the convention.

They called on the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) to ensure the immediate execution of the demands by convening an emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting within seven days from December 12, 2019.

They further threatened to announce the correct results from the convention and inaugurate what they called the authentic NWC of the party should the BoT fail to attend to their demands.

This is contained in a statement signed by the candidates and stakeholders namely Prince Obi-Nwosu Emmanuel, Hassan Adamu, Chief Dr Godwin Chinedu Duru, Comrade Edede Franklyn Maduabuchi and Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar.

Two, out of the five signatories of the statement, Chief Godwin Chinedu Duru and Comrade Edede Franklyn Maduabuchi contested for the positions of national organising secretary and national youth leader respectively at the convention.

Already, the post-convention reconciliation committee of the party, led by Bayelsa State governor, Hon Seriake Dickson, has started meeting the aggrieved candidates.

The committee has so far met some of the chairmanship aspirants, including former Minister of Education, Prof Tunde Adeniran; former deputy national chairman, Chief Bode George, among others.

The statement by the aggrieved candidates, which was made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday noted: “Sequel to the 9th December Elective National Convention held at Eagles Square, Abuja: “1) We the concerned candidates and stakeholders hereby reject in totality the results released at the 9th December 2017 National Elective Convention instead of the true results.

“2.) We therefore demand the immediate recall of the purported results and the release with immediate effect the authentic results of the actual votes cast by delegates at the convention.

“3.We hereby call on the chairman of the BOT to ensure the immediate execution of this demand by convening an emergency NEC meeting within 7 days from the date of this notice.

“4. Failure to address item 2 and 3 above, we would have no option but to announce the correct results and inaugurate the authentic National Working Committee of our great party, the PDP.”

Metuh Pleads With Aggrieved Aspirants To Support Secondus

Meanwhile, former national publicity secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, said yesterday that the outcome of the party’s national convention has repositioned it to take over power in 2019.

In a statement he personally signed, Metuh urged aggrieved aspirants to join hands with the new party leadership headed by Prince Uche Secondus in providing “a credible opposition that will continuously provide alternatives and options to the policies and programmes of the ruling party.”

The former party spokesman described Secondus as “a tried and tested hand and proven party administrator with exceptional institutional memory to handle the affairs of the party.

“It is incontrovertible that the activities leading to the PDP elective National Convention and the outcome thereof have left no one in doubt that the party has been repositioned to take over power in 2019”, he added.

While underscoring Secondus’ competence for the job, Metuh said, “It is instructive to note that nobody, not even the worst of critics, has questioned Prince Secondus’ competence and capacity to lead the party at this critical time.

“This is essentially owing to the well-established fact that the PDP witnessed one of her best moments under Prince Secondus as Acting National Chairman, during which time a lot of reforms were articulated and implemented.

“It is in that regard that I join our party leaders and other notable stakeholders to congratulate our National Chairman whose victory derived not only from his track record of proven service to our party but also from his very robust and issue-based campaign across all the states and zones of the federation.

“To other aspirants who did not have the opportunity of being elected, it must be understood that the outcome of the election does not in anyway detract from their credibility and their qualification for offices. What is needed now is for them to join hands with the new leadership to reposition the PDP for the task ahead.”

*Leadership