PDP Crisis: I Won’t Resign, Secondus Tells Protesters At Party’s Secretariat

The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has described protesters who stormed the party’s secretariat on Monday to call for his resignation as “a tiny minority”.

The protesters had besieged the PDP secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Abuja, to pass a vote of no confidence on Secondus and demand his resignation on the grounds of poor performance.

“We cannot watch one individual destroy what so many Nigerians sacrificed to build.

“Under his watch, so many of our leaders from the north to the south are leaving this party, we have lost governors, National Assembly members, BoT members and ordinary members. If Secondus remains we may be left with nobody else by 2023,” said one Tamunotonye Inioribo who led the protesters to the party’s secretariat.

But responding through his Special Assistant on Media, Ike Abonyi, on Monday, Secondus vowed not to yield to the protesters’ demand.

“…nothing so far warrants his resignation from the party position and those tiny minority calling for his resignation should come clean and tell party members across the country his offense why he should resign,” said Abonyi.

The aide added that Secondus, “will remain focused and committed to the ideals of the party which he swore to protect and defend upon his election to lead this great party 44 months ago.”

THE WHISTLER earlier reported that the PDP caucus at the House of Representatives had held a meeting over the weekend where they passed a resolution to call for the national chairman’s resignation.

They accused Secondus of “missing endless opportunities that ought to have been utilised for consolidating a viable opposition” because he was more focused on retaining his office than working for the party.

The calls for the PDP chairman’s resignation came about a week after some members of the party’s National Executive Council reportedly resigned their positions.

The party had some months ago lost three of its governors –  David Umah of Ebonyi, Ben Ayade of Cross River and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara – to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).