Former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council, Prince Kazeem Afegbua has called for the sack of the party's chairman, Uche Secondus.
In a statement issued following the rumored defection of the Governor of Zamfara state, Bello Matawalle from the PDP to the All progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday, Afegbua accused the party's chairman of "leadership tactlessness".
"When I raised alarm two months ago about the gradual decimation of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) by the Uche Secondus leadership, many had thought I was raising dust over nothing. The events of the last one month and the continuing defection of major PDP stakeholders to the ruling All Progressives' Congress (APC), is a further testimony to the leadership tactlessness and spinelessness of the Secondus-led NWC of the party.
"It should be of urgent concern to all stakeholders and organs of the party, including the Governors' Forum, to arrest this obvious drift which has left our dear party naked before Nigerians, home and abroad. There is a more compelling need to urgently call for a stakeholders meeting to mitigate, amongst other things, this obvious decimation of the PDP by a leadership that is utterly bereft of ideas, confused, intellectually hollow, phlegmatic and absentminded in the affairs of the nation and the party.
"An opposition party that should be gaining momentum because of the leadership failures of the ruling APC, is at best losing some of her best hands across the nation, and losing the much needed momentum," Afegbua said in the statement.
Matawalle's defection will bring to three, the number of PDP governors that had decamped to the APC since November 2020 starting from Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi and then Ben Ayade of Cross River taking a similar exit. Last week, Senator Peter Nwaobochi from Delta state had also decamped from the PDP.
On Saturday, two different factions of the PDP held parallel primaries in Anambra state in the quest to produce the party's flag bearer for the November 2021 Governorship election.
"When we thought Lagos state PDP was looking good, a court judgment uprooted a forward-looking leadership that ought to have added impetus to the party in the state. When we thought we could gain mileage in Anambra, greed and avarice have combined to ridicule the party in the state, producing two factions within 24 hours to undermine a clear opportunity to win back the state.
"As if that was not enough, sheer arrogance of power in Delta state has led to the exit of Senator Nwaboshi to the ruling APC, leaving PDP with a Senator representing Delta on its platform. If you add salt to the injuries already inflicted, the defection of the Zamfara state Governor, Bello Mutawallen to the APC brings double jeopardy to an already bad situation.
"All these portend bad omen for an opposition party that should gain maximum mileage under a system that has been run aground by the menacing incompetence of the APC-led Federal Government. Rather than act appropriately by creating strategies that could nip this in the bud, the Uche Secondus leadership looks apparently helpless and dithering like a lost sheep in the desert," he said.
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Afegbua had recently filed a petition before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleging the misappropriation of funds totalling N10 billion generated by the party's leadership in the run-up to the 2019 elections, a petition which the EFCC has commenced investigation upon.
In May 2021, the EFCC had written a letter inviting the party’s National Auditor, National Organising Secretary and Director of Finance to meet with its Head of Operations at the EFCC National Headquarters, Jabi, Abuja. The officers were asked to come along with relevant documents on the sale of forms into the party’s elective positions from January 2017 to 2021.
Afegbua's petition was triggered by the contents of a leaked memo from the National Auditor of the party, Adamu Mustapha, who alleged that his office was oblivious about the party’s financial transactions since 2017.
In the memo, Mustapha had said, “The purpose of this alarm is to bring to the notice of this NWC the inability of the audit department to perform its functions as enshrined in the constitution and the extant laws, to illustrate as example, the audit department was incapacitated by lack of access to the necessary inputs that will enable it to discharge its duties.
“For whatever reasons, there is no access to all financial transactions (cash inflows and outflows) documents of the party like cashbooks, receipts. vouchers, registers cheques and bank statements all of which are necessary input or pre-audit for due process, internal control and reconciliation.”
The PDP had denied all allegations.
Afegbua, in his statement, said he will not be surprised if the PDP Chairman also chooses to defect in the face of the ongoing investigations.
"We are already at the threshold of not fielding a candidate in the Anambra election if the stakeholders do not rally round to make a better impression about our preparedness. On a regular basis, critical stakeholders are defecting to the APC, such bile in the dish, following the untold hardship and sufferings the ruling party has wrought on the people. I have every cause to believe there is possibly a huge conspiracy between the Uche Secondus-led NWC and the Caretakers Committee of the APC, to keep quiet while the opposition is being plundered through defection.
"I won't be surprised if by tomorrow Uche Secondus decides to defect to the APC for reasons that are obvious. As I write this, another PDP Governor from the South-East is also warming up to defect. Also, another PDP Governor from the North-East is warming up to defect if the right leadership is not put in place to halt this drift. The stakeholders of the party should urgently carry out an overhaul that could elicit hope...
"Save PDP now before it is too late. Under Uche Secondus's watch, three validly elected Governors of the PDP have flagrantly violated their oath by defecting to a party that never gave them ticket. Even when there are no crises in their respective states," Afegbua added.