UPDATED: Seven PDP National Officers Resign, Blame Secondus

Seven national officers of the Peoples Democratic Party have resigned from their roles.

The party chieftains in different letters addressed to its National Secretary on Tuesday alleged being sidelined and unfairly treated by the National Chairman, Uche Secondus.

Some of the executive members include the National Deputy Publicity Secretary, Diran Odeyemi; Deputy National Organising Secretary, Hassan Yakubu; and the Deputy National Woman Leader, Hadizat Umoru.

This latest event fuels the crisis rocking the leadership of the party after a former spokesperson of the party’s presidential Campaign, Kasim Afegbua, accused the chairman and the leadership of series of offences.

In April, Afegbua called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to probe the party’s leadership.

He visited the offices of the anti-corruption agencies to submit his petition and asked them to look into the financial transactions of Mr Secondus, in the spirit of transparency, accountability, and book-keeping, in line with the existing anti-corruption laws.

Afegbua, a former spokesman for the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, alleged that much of the financial transactions of the PDP under its present leadership have been shrouded in mystery and accused the leadership of a deliberate attempt to short-change the party in the build-up to the 2023 general elections.

In the petition, he asked the anti-graft agencies to look into and scrutinise close to N10 billion that was allegedly accrued to the party’s purse from 2017 till date, especially those that were as a result of sales of nomination forms for presidential, governorship, House of Assembly, and senatorial elections.

As an opposition party, the PDP member stressed the need for the party’s leadership to lead by example by ensuring that there was transparency and accountability.

He accused Secondus of not living up to the expectations of strengthening the party to play its formidable role as a virile opposition party.

Afegbua alleged that the national chairman avoided the use of the party’s bank accounts and used one Morufu Nigeria Limited as a conduit pipe for financial mismanagement in the sales of forms in 2019.