Stop Intimidating PDP Leaders, Secondus Tells FG

The national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus has alleged harassment of opposition figures by the All Progressives Congress (PDP) led Federal Government.

Secondus was reacting to the ongoing investigation of the immediate past President of the Senate, David Mark by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The party chair, who spoke at the Abuja secretariat of the PDP on Tuesday, alleged harassment of the former Senate President by the anti-graft agency, saying such treatment, amounted to injustice.

Mark is currently undergoing investigation over his alleged role in the disbursement of election funds in 2015 and the purchase of his official residence while he was Senate President.

The government had indicated interest in the said building located within the Apo Legislative Quarters and had issued Mark with quit notice.

But Secondus insisted that the investigation was part of a grand plan by the ruling APC to continue to harass and intimidate prominent opposition figures with the view to frustrating them and dampening their morale ahead of the 2019 general election.

The chairman said, “Enough is enough. All over the world there is no place a former Senate President can be treated the way David Mark is being treated. They have failed and they know Nigerians know it.

All they do now is to attack and harass the opposition. Don’t attack the opposition. That is injustice. Concentrate on fulfilling your promises to the people. Enough of this.

We are not in a military era. God does not sleep. What you serve others, is what you will be served with. We handed over freely in 2015. APC should also be ready to handover without intimidation.

“Nigerians will vote and kick out APC with their voter cards. Stop intimidation of our leaders. We will no longer take it.  People in power should be very careful because power will come and go”.

Secondus called on opposition members to rise to the challenge of unseating the APC in 2019, stressing that they should not harbour any pessimism in the task of reclaiming power in the next election.

Speaking at a two-day retreat from elected officials of the PDP at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, blamed the party’s defeat in the 2015 general elections on lack of internal democracy, which he said manifested in the forms of imposition of candidates and disregard for the party’s constitution.

Ekweremadu said, “Another election year is by the corner. The new NWC must ensure that the party does not repeat past mistakes. We must return power to the people, as our name and slogan rightly demand of us. This will not only reassure Nigerians that we are indeed an improved and rebranded PDP, but will also encourage the massive return of former party faithful.

“Furthermore, the public will evaluate our commitment to end corruption and promote accountability and transparency by the way we handle internal party affairs.

“We have a history of fighting corruption and our systems must be corruption-free. This should stand us out as the only hope to eradicate corruption in Nigeria. The PDP established the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

“We saw to the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act and introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), Treasury Single Account (TSA), and the Biometric Verification Number (BVN). The PDP also ensured that the Civil Society Organisations and the press flourished to promote an accountable and open society.

“There was no effort by the PDP to tame the Non-Governmental Organisations or the use of the social media. Importantly, we beamed the anti-graft searchlight on our own members to demonstrate that there must be no sacred cows in the war against graft.

“Therefore, we must conduct our affairs in a way that reassure Nigerians that under the incoming PDP administration, we will not only consolidate on all these track record, but will also firmly eradicate corruption from 2019”.

The Deputy Senate President identified the choice of the party’s presidential candidate for 2019 as one of the biggest challenges confronting the PDP, stressing that the fate and political fortunes of the party would depend on the party’s presidential candidate.

“The party must, therefore, identify a candidate with the credentials, reach, charisma, competence, and popularity to outmatch any candidate presented by the ruling APC and any other parties for that matter.

“The party’s leadership should encourage every interested and qualified member to vie for the ticket in a free, fair, and credible party primary. Let the best candidate emerge”.

The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson who also attended the event, assured that the party was already making progress in its reconciliation efforts.

Dickson, who chairs the reconciliation committee of the PDP, said all the aggrieved aspirants in the party’s just concluded national convention would be appeased.

According to him, he had been able to plead with Prof Taoheed Adedoja, one of the aggrieved chairmanship candidates in the just concluded convention to seek out of court settlement with the party.

Adedoja has dragged the party’s leadership to court, seeking the cancellation of the convention and also asking the court to sack Secondus as national chairman.

Meanwhile, the PDP has fixed a meeting with all defeated aspirants in the just concluded convention for the scone week in January 2018.

The party’s spokesman, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan who made the announcement in his remarks at the retreat assured that all the complaints of the aggrieved aspirants will be addressed at the meeting.