Uche Secondus is elected PDP Chairman
Nigeria: Secondus, Former NPN Youth Leader to Lead PDP to 2019 Elections
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention which held Saturday in Abuja Nigeria has produced Uche Secondus, as the National Chairman of the party.
Much expectations go with the winner of the election. He will work to unite the balkanized form of the party, get the Nigerian electorate to re-admit the PDP and also lead the party to the 2019 general elections.
Secondus will have a tough time uniting different big political interests in the party. And how he will ride the tide will determine the fate of the party in the coming years.
The Rivers State born politician is not new in the block. He made his foray into politics during the Second Republic in 1978 when he served as Rivers State Youth Leader of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) He also became the Rivers State Publicity Secretary of the National Republican Convention (NRC) (1993 – 1998) and a two-term Chairman of the Rivers State People’s Democratic Party.
In 2007, Secondus was the South-South Coordinator for the PDP National Campaign Council that organized the campaigns for the party during that year’s general elections. In 2008, at the People’s Democratic Party Convention, he gained further promotion to National Organizing Secretary, holding office until 2012. Secondus is the pioneer Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). On 1 September 2013, he was elected Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party.[4][5] He also briefly served as acting National Chairman of the party, following the resignation of Adamu Mu’azu in 2015.
One factor that worked for Secondus in todays convention is that leaders of the party wanted a grass-root politician to lead the party and Secondus is adjudged one.
Permutations are that he would be able to take the PDP back to the people.
Secondus told delegates that his mission was to rebuild, to reposition and to regain the lost ground come 2019 general election. He said that he would be committed with passion to make sure that our party within the next few months is quickly repositioned and be ready for elections.
“I will focus on only one agenda which is to rebuild, to reposition and at the same time to regain the lost ground.
“In the past, the whole order has been that the Abuja politicians took over the responsibility of our party at the state and the grassroots. If God gives me the responsibility, we will return power to the
grassroots and our reward system will change.
“People that cannot vote at the ward levels, at the polling unit levels and they are now recognized in Abuja. The people in Abuja have data, contact and collections. What is politics all about if not to win election?. And if you cannot win election, you are not so important.
So, we will bring new system that our people will be very happy to take their destiny in their own hands.
“We will allow the constituencies, states to conduct congress and I am saying that because of my experiences as a state party chairman. Let the leaders in the state organize and elect popular candidates. We don’t have security, we don’t have INEC and Abuja cannot change and begin to superintend over whatever decision of the states that have been taken.