The embattled National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, says a strong chieftain of the party is bent on hijacking it.
The PDP chairman urged stakeholders to respect the party’s constitution in their quest to resolve its current challenges.
Secondus made this call on Wednesday in a statement titled “Who is after Secondus and Why is somebody in love of Caretaker?” issued by his media office in Abuja.
The chairman said he was privy to an intelligence report that a strong party chieftain who is bent on hijacking the party’s structure was behind the whole crisis.
Secondus was reacting to the increasing demand for his resignation by party members across the country.
Although the PDP chairman did not mention the name of the “strong” chieftain trying to hijack the party structure, many believe he was referring to the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, with whom he has had a running battle over control of the party machinery in the last few years.
Seven key members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) had on Tuesday resigned from the position over the chairman’s alleged poor handling of the party affairs.
The statement read: “Reports reaching the media office shows clearly that this character is deploying all devious means to try and diminish the person and character of the national chairman with a view to having his way of ultimately hijacking the structure for his disproportionately large ambition.
“We, therefore, wish to alert the general public, particularly media houses and party stakeholders to look out for strange deployment of luring gifts from this destructive ‘Father Christmas,’ all aimed at having a grip on the soul of our party by having a caretaker committee.
“What continues to shock many party observers is the real reason behind the desperation of this man to get at the National Chairman and the quantum of public funds being expended to achieve this illicit goal, few months to the National Convention.
“Few months to National Convention, anybody who means well for this party and who is a true democrat will respect the constitution of the party and approach issues dispassionately.”
