PDP CRISIS: “Only National Convention Can Remove Secondus” – Seriake Dickson Declares

A former governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, has thrown his weight behind the embattled chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, amidst calls for his resignation.

Pressure has been mounting on Secondus to quit his position as chairman of the party.

The latest call came from PDP House of Representatives Caucus, who, after a virtual meeting over the weekend, alleged that his style of leadership has given rise to intra-party alienation in several quarters.

Protesters also stormed the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Monday, calling for his resignation.

But Senator Dickson, who represents Bayelsa West in the Senate, said the “illegal” National Working Committee meeting and that of the party’s caucus in the House of Representatives, including the Monday protest, were part of the plot to contrive a needless crisis in the PDP in order to set up a caretaker committee, which is illegal.

In a statement he personally signed, Dickson rejected the calls for Secondus to resign his position.

According to him, the chairman of the party could either be removed by the national convention or choose to resign on his own volition.

He said, “Let me also bring to the attention of all that by the PDP constitution, a vote of no confidence even by a duly constituted NWC or other organs of the party does not remove a Chairman.

“The chairman is voted for and can only be removed by the National Convention unless on his own volition, he chooses to resign. So I call on all leaders of the party that this is perhaps their last effort to save the PDP.

“Like me, most of us have paid dearly and have paid our dues since 2015 when we lost the Presidential elections, and like me, we should all not rest on our oars or leave any stone unturned in the bid to strengthen and reposition the party including calling people to order and standing up against illegality when we have to.

“There is no crisis in the party. What is happening is only a contrived media crisis orchestrated and funded by some people with a motive to hijack the party without subjecting themselves and their cronies to a democratic vote at the convention which is due in less than 4 months.

“This has nothing to do with Secondus’ performance but a coup against a major democratic institution in Nigeria and must be resisted and stopped by all lovers of democracy and all men of good conscience in Nigeria.

“The decamping of governors and other leaders is not the fault of Secondus. It happens from time to time in all political parties from 1999 till date. The PDP has received Governors, presiding officers of the National Assembly and other political leaders under secondus and will continue to do so after this crisis. It is these people orchestrating these crises that have made governors and other leaders to leave the party because of the needless crisis and the toxic political atmosphere created by them within the party.

“Since we lost the 2015 elections, secondus has laboured to keep the party in spite of harassment, campaigned round to support candidates without the so called ‘taxation’ which has been put to an end in the party.

“He is one of the most experienced political party administrators in the party and in the country right from his days as NPN youth leader till date. He has seen it all and done it all. The whole issue is that Secondus insists that party decisions should be taken by all stakeholders and not by a few especially decisions about the direction of the party in 2023.

“I call on the National Chairman to utilize all options and powers available to him under the constitution and to take steps to ensure that no officer or member no matter how highly placed usurps, or impedes the exercise of his rights, powers and duties as national chairman or is allowed to plunge the party into another needless crisis.”

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