The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Uche Secondus

  • 2019: PDP zones presidency to North

    2019: PDP zones presidency to North

    The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has zoned its 2019 presidential ticket to the North. The party, however, did not state which of the three zones in the region will take the ticket.

    The party’s Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, made the disclosure at the party secretariat on Wednesday while receiving the report of the Post-Election Review Committee.

    Secondus said the decision was part of the recommendations of the committee, chaired by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu.

    He described the report as a turning point in the fortune of the party, saying the PDP is well organised and ready to play the role of vibrant opposition.

    The party chairman said the report of the committee would be presented before other organs of the party for adoption and ratification.

    Ekweremadu had, while presenting the report, stressed the need for the party to strictly adhere to the zoning principle at the local, state and national levels.

    He said, “Since the last president of PDP extraction came from the southern part of Nigeria, it is recommended that PDP’s presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election should come from the northern part of the country.

    “This is in accordance with popular views expressed in the submissions to the committee. This will also assuage ill feelings in the north over any perceived breach of the party’s zoning principle.

    The committee also recommended that the title of “party leader” be discarded forthwith at all levels, as it has no basis in the constitution of the PDP, adding that this would go a long way to strengthen the structure of the party at all levels.

    Similarly, the committee also recommended that the party do away with the use of delegates for picking its candidates for elections, saying the process had been grossly compromised and abused.

    Instead, it recommended the adoption of direct primaries as means of electing candidates for elections at all levels. This, according to the report, was a practical way of returning the party to the people.

     

     

  • Mu’azu resigns as PDP chairman

    Mu’azu resigns as PDP chairman

    … Secondus takes over

    Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu on Wednesday resigned as National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.

    The embattled chairman in a letter he wrote to the party’s Deputy National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, noted that due to the party’s defeat in the March 28 presidential election, it has become important for him vacate his position as PDP chairman for peace to reign in the party.

    He asked Secondus to take over as acting national chairman in line with the party’s constitution.

    Details later…

     

  • Jonathan, Nasarawa Speaker, PDP chieftain meet

    Jonathan, Nasarawa Speaker, PDP chieftain meet

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday held a closed-door meeting with the Speaker of Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Musa Mohammed and the Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    There have been street protests by youths in the state following moves by the state House of Assembly to impeach Governor Tanko Al-Makura.

    The governor is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The lawmakers on Wednesday asked the state Chief Judge to raise a panel to investigate al-Makura on 16 charges of gross abuse of public office.

    But speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with the President, the Speaker, who was accompanied by some principal officers of the House of Assembly, declined to give details of the meeting.

    He said: “It is a private visit. I don’t have the mandate of the State Assembly to brief the press. The Chairman of the House Committee on Information has the mandate to speak to the press on anything concerning impeachment.”

    Secondus, who emerged from the President’s office few minutes later also declined to give details of the discussion at the meeting.

    “It’s consultation. I can’t say whatever now. We are consulting,” he stated.

  • PDP NWC members shun meeting with Tukur

    PDP NWC members shun meeting with Tukur

    Members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday shunned an emergency meeting called by the party’s chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

    Only the National Secretary, Professor Adewale Oladipo; the National Auditor, Adewole Adeyanju and the National Treasurer, Alhaji Bala Buhari joined the chairman in the meeting room.

    With Tukur and only three of the 12-member NWC team in attendance, the meeting could not form a quorum.

    Although other members of the NWC were at the party secretariat, they chose to remain in their offices.

    Apparently rattled by the action of the NWC members, Tukur stormed out of the venue and headed straight to his official car in which he was driven out of the party secretariat about 2pm.

    Insider sources told our correspondent yesterday that the absence of the Deputy National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, at the meeting was an ominous sign that the President may have ditched Tukur.

    Secondus is seen as Jonathan’s eye and ear among PDP leaders.

    The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, who met reporters a few hours after Tukur left the secretariat, avoided comments on the matter.

    Asked to comment on the matter, Metuh feigned ignorance of the development, saying, “I only came to felicitate with you (reporters) on the New Year.

    “You all know that we just resumed from our end-of-year recess and I just decided to breeze in here to say Happy New Year to you all.”