Secondus, PDP NWC members agreed not to seek reelection — Dokpesi

Prince Uche Secondus, National Chairman of the Peoples Democrat­ic Party (PDP), and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) have agreed not to seek reelection in the forthcom­ing national convention of the par­ty scheduled to hold in October, Chief Ray­mond Dokpesi, a chieftain of the party and former national chair­manship aspirant, has said.

Gover­nor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and some PDP leaders wanted to remove Secondus from office and install a caretaker committee.
During the stakeholders’ meeting held last week to re­solve the imbroglio, the gov­ernors, party elders and oth­er stakeholders agreed that Secondus should be allowed to complete his tenure since he has just four months to go.
As part of the peace deal struck to resolve the crisis, it was also agreed that the con­vention which was earlier scheduled to hold in Decem­ber be brought forward to October.
The stakeholders were, however, silent on the fate of Secondus and other members of the NWC who may want to seek reelection for another term.
Speaking with Daily Inde­pendent, Dokpesi, who was present at the meeting where the crisis was resolved, said Secondus and other mem­bers of the NWC voluntarily agreed not to contest in the convention where a new na­tional chairman of the party who will lead the PDP to the 2023 general elections will be elected.
“Zoning must be done fairly and justly so that a new chairman will emerge. The members of the National Working Committee on their own have voluntarily agreed that they were not going to contest.
“And in which case, there was nothing to dispute about as long as they have agreed to step aside from the next con­vention on their own volition.
“Since they are out, then we can get more credible people to come in and con­test. And with the re-zoning that will take place and so on, I think that PDP is really getting itself organised and ready for that 2023 election.”