Secondus Rejects Bode George’s Nominee For Lagos PDP Chairman

Agency ReporterSeptember 4, 2018

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Crisis is currently brewing between the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Lagos State chapter of the party over who succeeds Moshood Salvador, the immediate past chairman of the party, who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) last week.

According to Daily Independent findings, following Salvador’s exit, the stakeholders in Lagos PDP unanimously decided that the position should be retained by Lagos West Senatorial District where the former state chairman hails from.

Members of the party later settled for Dr. Adegbola Dominic, a medical practitioner, who was a governorship aspirant of the party in the 2015 election.

Dominic, a former National Chairman of the Action Party of Nigeria (APN), also contested the state chairmanship election with Salvador where he came second.

Our correspondent learnt that the choice of Dominic as Salvador’s replacement was arrived at following a consensus of opinions among the party leaders in the state, especially its apex leader, Chief Olabode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP.

When contacted, Dominic confirmed the new development in the party, saying leaders met to agree on his choice following the move by Salvador to leave the PDP for the APC.

He also confirmed that he was in Abuja to deliver the letter containing the decision of the party leaders led by Chief George to appoint him as replacement for Salvador.

He said informing the party national headquarters was in line with the laid down rules and regulations.
“I was in Abuja. I just came back last night. I took the letter there, to the PDP headquarters, we did that to follow the protocol in the party,” he said.

However, to the shock of PDP supporters in Lagos, the national leadership of the party, in a letter dated Wednesday, August 29, which was seen by Daily Independent, announced the choice of Alhaji Waliu Ibrahim as the Acting State Chairman of the party.

Ibrahim was deputy to Salvador and, according to the letter signed by Sen. Umaru Ibrahim Tsauri, the National Secretary is to serve as the acting chairman for 90 days.

The letter titled, ‘Appointment as Acting Chairman of Lagos State PDP Chapter’, reads: “This is to officially inform you that the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has directed that you assume the position of State Chairman of Lagos PDP in acting capacity in line with Section 35(1) (c) of our party’s constitution which stipulates that:

“In the event of resignation, removal, death, incapacitation, or absence of the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman shall assume office as chairman in acting capacity without prejudice to section 47 (6) of this constitution.
“This became necessary due to the resignation of the state chairman. Nonetheless, you are to continue in acting capacity till further notice, which shall not exceed 90 days (three months).”

While the PDP NWC claimed that it followed the directives in the party’s constitution, members of the party in Lagos are said to have rejected what they called the imposition of Ibrahim.

The Lagos chapter said it was wrong for the party to determine for them who presided over their affair without carrying them along.
According to a member of the state exco, the ploy to reject Dominic, the choice of the majority of the party members was a deliberate attempt by Prince Uche Secondus, the PDP National Chairman, to take control of the structure of the party from Bode George and hand it over to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

Our source said, having cheated Bode George out of the national chairmanship race, it would be unfair for Governor Wike to attempt taking the structure of the party in Lagos away from him.
“Majority of us are not happy with the decision of the PDP NWC. I think they are just playing politics with the whole issue why hiding behind the party’s constitution.

“We in Lagos PDP decided that the position of state chairman should be retained by Lagos West and we all adopted Dr. Dominic. It is unfair for the national leadership to reject him and impose another person on us.

“They claimed they are relying on the party’s constitution but they should take a cue from what happened in the APC.
“When Lai Mohammed, who was the APC’s National Publicity Secretary, left his position to become Minister, Timi Frank, who was the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, thought he would be the substantive publicity secretary based on the provision of the party’s constitution, but the party told him that ‘No, you cannot assume the position because it was zoned to the North-Central and that zone must retain it. That was how Bolaji Abdullahi who just resigned his position became the publicity secretary.

“That was our position, too, in Lagos PDP. We agreed that the position should be retained by Lagos West but the NWC said the deputy chairman who hails from Lagos East should take over. It is unfair,” he said.

Confirming the development, another chieftain of the party, Kunle Dosunmu, said they suspected Governor Wike was behind the plot because he had always wanted Jimi Agbaje to become the party’s governorship candidate in the 2019 election.

He said: “Governor Wike is behind all this. Secondus is his stooge and we are not surprised by his actions. He wants to determine who becomes the party’s governorship candidate in 2019, and he is rooting for Jimi Agbaje.
“We have no problem with that but all we are saying is that Agbaje should come and talk to the party members. If they accept him as their choice, we are okay with it.”

When Daily Independent contacted Kola Ologbondiyan, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, he confirmed the development, saying the NWC had approved the choice of Ibrahim, Salvador’s deputy, to serve in acting capacity for 90 days in line with the party’s constitution.

“In the case of Lagos PDP, the Deputy State Chairman has become the Acting State Chairman. On the appointment of Dr. Adegbola Dominic by the Lagos PDP stakeholders, as you said, if he is the deputy to Salvador, then automatically he is the Acting State Chairman.