Disckson defends Secondus, says only national convention can remove him
Former governor of Bayelsa State and senator representing Bayelsa West in the National Assembly, Henry Seriake Dickson, has risen stoutly in defence of the embattled national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, saying he cannot be removed whimsically or be asked to resign for no just cause.
Dickson said in a statement her personally endorsed on Monday that unless Secondus chooses to resign on his own volition, a vote of no confidence even by a duly constituted NWC or other organs of the party cannot remove him.
“The chairman (of the party) is voted for and can only be removed by the National Convention, unless on his own volition, he chooses to resign,” he stressed.
That, he said, is what the PDP constitution provides.
The former Bayelsa governor faulted a statement by some members of the National Working Committee who he said “went outside the constitution of the party and convened a meeting in a hotel room” without the knowledge, consent and presence of the chairman.
Disckon said that the meeting was an action by a few party officers and does not represent a valid resolution or decision of the National Working Committee known to the party’s constitution.
According to him, only the national chairman of the party can summon and preside over meetings of the organs of the party.
He said therefore that the purported meeting and the outcome are part of a plot to contrive a needless crisis in the PDP.
Dickson said that the statement signed by some members: three members of the working committee and three vice chairmen of the party, as indicated in the press release, does not constitute a valid resolution of the NWC.
According to him, there are the NWC comprises 19 members, and only six of them signed the statement “leaving out the majority of 13 who were not at the meeting and the chairman who was not aware, who did not attend, who did not authorize and who did not preside over the said meeting.”
He stressed that the meeting as well as its resolution is “not only a nullity but an act of gross misconduct.”
Dickson also faulted a statement purported to have been issued by the Reps Caucus.
“As Nigerians and all PDP leaders know, the Minority Leader of the Reps is Honourable Ndudi Elumelu, not Hon Kingsley Chinda; and members of the House of Representatives caucus have already said that they did not hold any such meeting.
“The chairman of the caucus, Hon Ndudi Elumelu, has rightly issued a statement that he did not summon or preside over such a meeting.
“Therefore, Nigerians should disregard the reported decision of the purported rep caucus meeting,” he said.
Dickson insisted that there is no crisis in the PDP; that what is happening is only “a contrived media crisis” orchestrated and funded by some people to hijack the party.
“The (defection) 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,” he alleged.
Dickson said since the party lost the 2015 elections, Secondus had laboured to keep the party despite 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.:
According to him, Secondus’s crime is that he insists that party decisions must be taken by all stakeholders and not by a few, especially decisions about the direction of the party in 2023.