By Dansu Peter
A former acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus has emerged winner of the chairmanship election of the opposition party.
Secondus beat Tunde Adeniran, consensus candidate of the south-west zone, and Raymond Dokpesi, another aspirant.
Chief Dokpesi came a distant third with 66 votes, while Adeniran secured 230 votes, placing second. The winner garnered 2,000 votes.
His victory triggered negative reaction following the inclusion of his name on a list which was allegedly used to rig the exercise.
Dokpesi had said the list which was allegedly prepared by some governors was given to many delegates ahead of the convention.
He said the 21 names of candidates contained in the list appeared on the ballot papers as number one and in the voting booth as number one.
“Since we started voting about three hours ago, every delegate that is available was provided with copies of what you have here. They call it ‘Unity List’ and all the names on the list are number one in all the cubicles for voting and this is supposed to be a list prepared by the governors,” Dokpesi had said.
On his part, Adeniran stormed out of the venue of the convention while counting of votes was underway.
He called for a cancellation of the exercise.
It is not just Dokpesi and Adeniran who are aggrieved over the situation, many others complained, with a delegate who spoke next to Dokpesi at a press conference late Saturday, calling for the “burial” of the PDP.
“Let’s just call for a casket and bury the party,” he had said in anger.
Secondus was once the party’s organising secretary, deputy national chairman, and its two-term chairman in Rivers state.
Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state and Ayo Fayose, his Ekiti counterpart, played major roles in the emergence of Secondus.
Meanwhile, Adeniran, a former Minister of Education, has called on the national leadership of the party to hand over the affairs of the party to its Board of Trustees.
Adeniran stated this after he walked out of the Eagle Square in company with his supporters to protest the outcome of the national convention.
The Director of Media and Publicity of the Adeniran Campaign Organisation, Taiwo Akeju, who spoke on behalf of the former minister, rejected the entire electoral process.
He urged the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee to hand over the party to the BoT in order to conduct “a credible election.”
Akeju said, “We reject the entire electoral process of December 9, 2017. The election was grossly compromised to achieve a predetermined end in line with the illegal ‘Unity List’ prepared by Governors Nyesom Wike and Ayodele Fayose and foisted on the entire delegates.
“Consequently, we submit that this election is a sham and its result is unacceptable. We reject it in its entirety.
“We consider this so-called election as a travesty of democracy and due process, which further entrenches the culture of impunity that has done a great damage to the party in the past.”
Fayose asks losers to accept defeat in good faith
The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has asked those who contested the PDP national chairmanship seat but lost to Secondus, to accept defeat in good faith.
Fayose also said he had no regret, canvassing support for aspirants on the list.
He insisted that some people kicked against the list because they did not win the election.
He said, “Anyone who will contest the result of this election at the court of law is an enemy of the party. It is not good to be a bad loser. If you did not win, just take it in good faith and support the winner”
PDP stops Sheriff’s man from contesting
A former National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party, Fatai Adeyanj said on Saturday that he was disqualified from running for the office of the national treasurer of the party.
Adeyanju was also prevented from accessing the Eagle Square, venue of the party’s national convention.
He was disqualified from the race because of his alleged inability to present his tax clearance.
Adeyanju, who was a close ally of a former National Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, remained outside the venue, hours into the exercise.
He later told journalists that the committee set up by the party for the convention deliberately screened him out.
He alleged that Governor Fayose was responsible for the treatment meted out to him.
He said, “The party’s screening committee rejected my tax clearance certificate even though the document remained valid until December 2017.
“The party also said that I didn’t have a voter card, but I tendered my valid voter card before the committee.
“You can see the original copy of my valid tax certificate and my voter card. All efforts to make the screening committee see reason proved abortive.”
Apart from being close to Sheriff, Adeyanju and the then National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, were allies of Senator Buruji Kashamu.
Both Sheriff and Kashamu are considered as enemies of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led national caretaker committee.
“When there are divisions in the leadership, people follow different groups or individuals. But when the crisis gets resolved, we should all be allowed to join the winning group without victimisation,” Adeyanju said.
He promised to go to court to seek redress after the convention.
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