POLITICS
PDP Crisis: Powers to Remove Secondus Reside in National Convention — Legal Adviser
The National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Emmanuel Enoidem, has said powers to remove the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) or any national officer reside only in the party’s national convention.
Enoidem stated this while reacting to a communique purportedly issued by nine members of the NWC of the party, after a meeting held in Abuja on Sunday night.
Enoidem said that by Section 29 (3) of the PDP constitution, it was the national chairman or a summon, backed by 2/3 members of the NWC that could validly convene a meeting of the NWC.
He said Subsection (4) of PDP constitution provided for 2/3 members of NWC to form a quorum for a meeting of the NWC.
“As a bona fide member of the NWC, to the best of my knowledge, I am not aware of any meeting of NWC, summoned by the national chairman or in the manner provided aforesaid.
“It is, therefore, of grave concern, and indeed, very sad to read the above position, purportedly taken by some distinguished members of NWC in utter disdain and violation of clear extant provisions of our constitution.
“The issue of resignation of any officer of our party at any level is a personal decision as stipulated in Sections 45(1) & 47(5).
“There is no provision in our constitution which donates powers to any organ, individuals or group of persons to ask an officer of the party to resign for any reason whatsoever, as was purported in the so called press release.
“The powers to remove any member of the NWC and indeed any national officer is reserved in the national convention which is due for December 2021.”
Enoidem said that the said news release was an unfortunate assault and blatant violation of the provisions of PDP constitution, therefore illegal and unconstitutional.
He said the purported meeting was also against the widely published position taken by the Board of Trustees (BOT), calling for peace until a committee set up had deliberated on the controversies.
“This bad press, caused the party at this critical time is most uncalled for, needless and wanton, and must be discontinued if we are mindful of the interest of the party.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the communiqué issued earlier stated that six out of the nine members of the NWC at the Sunday meeting voted that the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, should resign his position.
According to the communiqué, the nine NWC members at the meeting were the Deputy National Chairman (North), Sen. Suleiman Nazif; the National secretary, Sen. Umar Tsauri, and the National Auditor, Alhaji Mai Adamu Mustapha.
Others were National Financial Secretary, Abdulahi Maibasira; National youth leader, Mr S.K.E. Udeh-Okoye; National vice chairman (SW), Amb. Taofiq Arapaja; National vice chairman (SE), Chief Ali Odefa; National vice chairman (SS); Chief Dan Orbih; and National vice chairman (NC), Chief Theophilus Dakas.
The communiqué had stated that the officers met and deliberated on the matter bedeviling the party.
It stated that the meeting extensively deliberated and agreed that the National chairman Prince Uche Secondus had grossly mismanaged the party.
“The matter of his resignation was put to vote, six members voted that he should resign and three members abstained from voting.”
It listed the six NWC members who voted in favour that Secondus should resign to be Nazif, Mustapher, Udeh- Okoye, Arapaja, Orbih and Odefa
The communique added that the meeting resolved to forward their resolution to the governors forum, the BOT, the national assembly caucus of both house of reps and the senate.
NAN also reports that the NWC members are 18, made up of 12 regular members and six national vice chairmen from the geopolitical zones, and needed two-thirds of the total members to form a quorum. (NAN)
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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