Politics
PDP Moves To Save Convention, Pressures Secondus Over Suit
Published
4 years agoon
By
Editor
The Peoples Democratic Party has yet to file a response to the appeal filed by its suspended Chairman, Uche Secondus, before the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, The PUNCH has learnt.
At the last hearing on Tuesday, the PDP lawyers asked for time to respond to the appeal filed by Secondus, but the court refused to grant their request, stating that the suit was time-bound in view of the national convention of the party, which is scheduled to hold on Saturday and Sunday.
The court subsequently gave the opposition party 24 hours to file its response.
Speaking to The newsmen on Wednesday, Secondus’ lawyer, Mr Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), said he had received no response from the PDP.
“The matter will come up as planned. I understand that the PDP has till 12pm on Thursday (today) to file a response. To the best of my knowledge, nothing has been filed and we have not been served,” Oyetibo said.
READ ALSO: National Convention: PDP Disqualifies 3 Aspirants For Dragging Party To Court
On August 23, 2021, some interested members of the party instituted a suit marked PHC/2183/CS/2021 at the High Court of Rivers State, Port Harcourt Judicial Division, with Secondus and the PDP as defendants.
On September 10, 2021, the court delivered its judgment and restrained Secondus from performing the functions of the office of the national chairman of the PDP.
The suspended chairman subsequently filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal and sought an order of injunction restraining the PDP and its officers and representatives from holding or conducting its national convention scheduled for October 30 and 31, 2021, or any other date, pending the hearing and final determination of the appeal.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that efforts were still being made by the party to prevail on Secondus to withdraw the case.
Multiple sources within the PDP told The PUNCH that several chieftains of the party had already begun arriving in Abuja ahead of the convention and it would be unfair to have the event cancelled.
“We are still pleading with Secondus. It is not too late for him to do the right thing and withdraw the case from court. We are all ready to sheathe our swords. He will become an outcast within the party if he continues on this path,” a member of the Board of Trustees said.
In a related development, the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Walid Jibril, on Wednesday, asked Secondus not to make the party ungovernable.
Jibril, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, said the decision of the party was supreme, and as such, the national convention would hold on the appointed dates.
He said it would be wrong for Secondus, being a founding member of the PDP, to make the party ungovernable.
The BoT chairman added, “Secondus is a member of the BoT; he attained the position of the national chairman of this party. He has seen many things and helped to build the party.
“I don’t see why Secondus should go to this extent or try to ensure that the party goes a different way completely. Secondus should have taken whatever happened simply, being a founding member of the party. He should play the role he has been playing.”
Reacting to the claim that governors wield a huge influence in the zoning of the party’s presidential ticket, Jibril said the PDP had structures.
READ ALSO: JUST IN: Court Bars Orbih, Ogbeide-Ihama, Otsu, Others From Participating In PDP Convention
He added that the governors had the right to make recommendations, but the decision on zoning rested on the National Executive Council of the party.
Jibril insisted that the convention would hold on Saturday and Sunday.
Politics
Amaechi: I Will Resign As FCT Minister If… Wike
Published
11 hours agoon
July 4, 2025By
Editor
Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Nyesom Wike has begged President Bola Tinubu to release the report of the forensic audit on the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC, which he said indicted the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
Wike vowed to resign if the report is released and its contents do not indict Amaechi.
Speaking on ‘Politics Today’ on Channels Television monitored on Friday in Abuja, Wike who was responding to allegations by Amaechi that he was corrupt, said Amaechi’s wife received N4 billion monthly from the NDDC to train Niger Delta women.
He said, unlike Amaechi, he does not come from a poor background, hence his sophisticated taste.
READ ALSO: Coalition: Why ADC Leaders Stepped Down — Nwosu
Wike said, “First of all, Amaechi’s wife was not an industrialist. She has never been, and that is why I call on Mr President to release the forensic audit of NDDC.
“Amaechi’s wife company, every month, got N4 billion to train Niger Delta women. That is N48 billion in one year alone, and the forensic audit report is there. Who killed it? It was Malami, then the Attorney General.
“That is one of the people who is now talking. Mr President should help Nigerians. You see, this is what I have always said. Mr President should help Nigerians. Please, release the forensic audit of the NDDC.
“I have said, let Mr President please do us a favour to release that document. Former Attorney General, Malami, killed that document to protect those who were concerned.
READ ALSO:Ex-minister Amaechi Dumps APC, Says Tinubu Can’t Govern Nigeria
“I am not just saying what I am saying, let them release the document. If what I am saying is not in the document, I will resign at the Minister of the FCT. I said I will resign.
“I don’t worship office. What I am saying, let them release the forensic audit of the NDDC. I didn’t say the forensic audit was right, but I said, release the report of the forensic audit.
“That is how the wife became an industrialist – N4 billion every month to train Niger Delta women”, he stated.
Wike challenged the academic qualifications of Amaechi, describing them as less than average, and also faulted Amaechi’s claim that a Senator gave him (Amaechi) a Rolls-Royce but that he does not use it.
According to the FCT minister, the vehicle was given to Amaechi by a contractor who was executing about -0 percent of the projects in Rivers state. In contrast, the former Transport Minister was the governor.
Politics
Coalition: Abure-led LP Gives Obi 48 Hours To Leave Party
Published
2 days agoon
July 3, 2025By
Editor
The Abure-led faction of the Labour Party has given the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, a 48 hours ultimatum to leave the party haven formally joined the coalition party.
This was contained in a statement signed by the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, in Abuja, on Thursday.
He explained that the Labour Party under Abure’s leadership remains vehemently opposed to joining the coalition while dismissing members of the coalition as “power mongers whose only interest was self and not the people.”
The party warned Nigerians that the often mouthed ‘new Nigeria is Possible’ is a ruse and cannot be achieved with the assemblage of old, recycled, desperate and frustrated politicians in the coalition.
READ ALSO::Only A Formidable Coalition Can Salvage Nigeria, Says Peter Obi
Ifoh said the party is aware that all those who mismanaged Nigeria over the years are the ones that gathered themselves in the coalition while noting that desperate politicians can’t birth new Nigeria.
He said, “We are aware of several nocturnal meetings between Peter Obi and some of our members, lobbying them to join him in his new party. We’re also aware that a number of them has refused to defect with him.
“Labour Party has consistently said it is not part of the coalition and therefore, any of our members who is part of the coalition is given within 48 hours to formally resign his membership of the party.
“Labour Party is not available for people with dual agenda, people with deceptive persona. The party will not avail itself to individuals who have one leg in one Party and another leg elsewhere.
“People who in the morning they will claim to be in the Labour Party and in the evening they are in coalition.
READ ALSO: Peter Obi Condemns Tinubu’s Saint Lucia Trip
“Nearly 70 per cent of the Nigerian population are youths who are tired of the old order, tired of gerontocrats deciding their fate. The new Nigeria that the youths are dreaming of, is not what can be realized from what we are seeing in the coalition.
“These people are opportunistic politicians who are only interested in relaunching themselves into circle of power, people who are desperate to continue holding on to power.
“The new Nigeria of our dream can only be realised through the Labour Party, and the party is willing to lead Nigerians along that trajectory.
“I therefore urge all members of the party to remain loyal and keep the party structure intact ahead of future elections.”
Politics
Only A Formidable Coalition Can Salvage Nigeria, Says Peter Obi
Published
2 days agoon
July 3, 2025By
Editor
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has given his full support for the coalition of opposition parties aimed at ending President Bola Tinubu’s rule in 2027.
He explained that it was a fact that no single group can change Nigeria alone, hence the need for people to come together to pursue the goal.
The former Amambra State Governor said this in a post on his verified X handle, on Thursday.
READ ALSO: Peter Obi Condemns Tinubu’s Saint Lucia Trip
He said this just as the Julia Abure-led faction of the Labour Party has given him 48 hours within which to formally resign from the party or risk expulsion.
Obi in his post wrote, “Yesterday, the coalition members formally adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 Nigeria General Elections with Distinguished Senator David Mark serving as the National Chairman and H.E. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola serving as the National Secretary.
“Our commitment is to sacrifice and work together towards the 2027 General Elections, ensuring that Nigeria gets a competent, capable, and compassionate leadership that will prioritise the nation’s future by putting the welfare of Nigerians first.
REAS ALSO: Peter Obi Speaks As Port Harcourt Refinery Begins Production
“This decision was not made lightly. It comes from deep reflection on where we are as a country and what must be done to move forward.
“No one group can change Nigeria alone. To dismantle the structures that keep our people in poverty and insecurity, we must build bridges, not walls even when those bridges are uneasy. A New Nigeria is Possible. -PO.”
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