By Adesuwa Tsan
365Daily – Former Commissioner of Information in Edo State, Kassim Afegbua, has asked the Governors Forum, the Board of Trustees and the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to move for the removal of the Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, for incompetence.
In a statement issued on Friday, May 21, 2021, Afegbua, himself a member of the party, called for urgent actions to be taken “to arrest the present drift of the party in the hands of a man who has no capacity to lead a 21st century opposition party like PDP.”
He said the present leadership of PDP under Prince Uche Secondus had outlived its usefulness and should, therefore, “be shown the exit door or voluntarily resign.”
Butressing his point, he stated: “I had predicted in the course of my interrogation of the leadership that Governors Ayade, Mutawalle, and Ikpeazu would soon exit the party, as well as Fani-Kayode and Senator Grace Bent, simply because the Secondus leadership is bereft of ideas and lacks the capacity to lead a virile opposition.
“Under his phlegmatic leadership, the PDP has lost two serving Governors while others are in the queue to exit the party. Uche Secondus is killing the party day by day because he does not have what it takes to pilot the affairs of the opposition.
“Right before our very eyes, we have lost two former Speakers, Dogara and Bankole, former Governor Gbenga Daniel has left, David Umahi and Ben Ayade have both left, making the party vulnerable to the average Nigerian mind. The stakeholders of the party should move beyond mere meetings to push away Secondus as a way to re-ignite, reboot and rejig the party for more constructive engagements that would reposition the party ahead of the 2023 elections.
“The Governors Forum, the Board of Trustees and the National Executive Committee must take a deliberate step to arrest the present drift of the party in the hands of a man who has no capacity to lead a 21st century opposition party like PDP. The time to take action is now. Tomorrow may be too late.”
While challenging Secondus to respond to the “invitation of the anti-graft agency instead of playing the ostrich,” Afegbua emphasised that “transparency, openness, probity and accountability are the veritable ingredients to nurture a holistic society where rule of law and justice prevail, in driving governance and utility-driven leadership.”
He lamented that “he present leadership of the PDP under Uche Secondus has made the party an endangered specie that is now vulnerable to so many frailties and fractures, adding that an opposition party that should be gaining momentum in the face of the incompetent leadership of the country is painfully losing momentum with depleted membership on a regular basis.
“That is not cheering news at all. The time to show Secondus and his co-travellers the exit door is now. We need to act fast before the apocalypse,” he stressed.