The crisis rocking the national leadership of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has taken a new twist as governors elected on the platform of the party have asked the Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, to handover the leadership to the National Secretary, Prof Adewale Oladipo.
The governors also disowned former Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, who stormed the secretariat with his supporters and made himself national chairman.
Acting under the aegis of PDP Governors’ Forum, PDPGF, the governors said the national secretary would oversee the affairs of the party for now in line with its constitution.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the PDPGF meeting, late Wednesday night in Abuja, the governors frowned at the refusal of the acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, to honour the judgment of an FCT High Court which last December ordered him to vacate office for any other person from the North-East zone.
Reading the communiqué, Chairman of the forum and governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, said: “We take cognizance of the judgment by the court in Abuja which ordered the acting chairman to vacate office for any other person from the North-East zone of Nigeria.
“Our party’s constitution has enough provisions for that and the necessary process has been put in motion. In recognizance of the judgment the court gave, we call on the national secretary to take over the leadership of the party immediately and that is in line with the provisions of the PDP constitution.
“The decision of the governors came barely some hours after the former Political Adviser to past President Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, stormed the secretariat with his supporters and made himself the national chairman of the party.
PDP govs disown Gulak
The governors also lampooned Gulak for daring to unilaterally declare himself the new chairman of the party without recourse to the appropriate organs of the party.
Mimiko said: “The invasion of the party headquarters by Ahmed Ali Gulak, who reportedly assumed the chairmanship of Peoples Democratic Party is regrettable and condemnable.”
In a communique issued at the end of its meeting, yesterday, in Abuja, the governors in very strong terms, described the action as unfortunate, regrettable, adding that the governors will meet soon to get a new national chairman.
It said: “The invasion of the party headquarters today by Ahmed Ali Gulak who reportedly assumed the chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is regrettable and condemnable.
“We take cognizance of the judgment by the court in Abuja which ordered the acting chairman to vacate office for any other person from the North-East zone of Nigeria. Our party constitution has enough provisions for that and the necessary process has been put in motion.”
