THE crisis rocking the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) today took another twist with the resignation of seven National Working Committee members.
The party’s National Organising Secretary, Colonel Austin Akobundu (retd), confirmed the development but did not go into details.
National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, whose tenure ends in December has been under intense pressure to step down.
The National Chairman fell out with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, his benefactor, who criticised him publicly.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State had made efforts to reconcile the duo but it is unclear if that yielded the desired result.
Before the misunderstanding with Wike, Kassim Afegbua, a PDP chieftain from Edo State, had called on Secondus to step down over his handling of the party affairs.
He had accused him of corruption and even filed a suit against him.
Secondus responded by suing Afegbua for defamation.
The PDP has been hit by a wave of defections, especially of some of its governors in the last three months.
Governors David Umahi (Ebonyi), Ben Ayade (Cross River), and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) had left the party for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
This made some of the party members to lose confidence in the leadership of Secondus.
In July, a member of the House of Representatives, Rimamnde Shawulu, asked Secondus to resign for failing to halt the flow of defections.
