•Opposition party lawmakers plot removal of Secondus

By Tordue Salem

As the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bleeds, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, counts multiple victories within days in the House of Representatives.

The difference is now stark: Members of the APC in the Green Chamber have gone up from 211 in 2019 to 236 last week.

In essence, the main opposition party in the country (PDP) has lost no fewer than 25 members in two years.

Other parties stand as follows: All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, five seats (with one vacant as a result of Rep. Osy Prestige’s death), Social Democratic Party, one, and Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, one.

The number of APC members in the House now gives them four short of the required two-thirds (240) to exert  overwhelming influence on every legislative subject.

A member of the House of Representatives, Rimamnde Shawulu, has meanwhile, on the National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus,  to resign with immediate effect for failing to stem the flow of defections from the party.

The lawmaker urged Secondus to throw in the towel before the 2023 general elections.

In a letter he wrote to party chair, entitled, ‘In the Interest of our Party, Democracy and the People of Nigeria: Time To Do The Needful’, Shawulu pointedly told the Chairman to resign.

“I   plead with you sir to show leadership today and in the interest of the party, your good name, and the future of Nigeria to resign immediately as National Chairman”, he wrote.

“Today, not unexpectedly, four members of the House of Representatives from Zamfara State denounced the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and defected to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). “Unlike other times, when leaders of the party in the House (both the Minority Caucus Leadership and the House PDP Caucus Leadership), put up some form of protest, not a whisper was heard or a hand raised in protest against the decamping!”

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“Sir, history calls and beckons on you to do the needful, not to die but to live for the party by surrendering leadership, in order for reconciliation and repositioning of the party to begin in earnest for a fresh start.

“You, and indeed, all members of the National Working Committee should make such a sacrifice in the interest of the PDP, Nigeria and democracy. I plead with you sir to show leadership today and in the interest of the party, your good name, and the future of Nigeria to resign immediately as National Chairman.

“The 2023 elections are just two years away, with a few off-cycle governorship elections in a few states getting underway in a few months, the party needs time to reorganize, reconcile feuding members and prepare to campaign with well-prepared and articulated programmes to rescue Nigeria from the present morass. It bears restating that time is not on our side. You and the current national working committee members will be unable to lead the reconciliation process because you are unfortunately enmeshed in several current controversies.

“My Chairman, sir, I come in peace, and do know that God will lead you aright if you ask him to!”

Though the Chairman of the PDP Caucus in the House, Rep. Kingsley Chinda (PDP-Rivers) didn’t pick or return calls, a chat with Rep. Shawulu later revealed that any members of PDP were disposed to the ouster of Secondus.

“We didn’t sit as a caucus to decide that Secondus should go, but I know that many people are with me. Many of our members said they like me call on Secondus to resign. They support me”.