Search for Mu’azu’s successor splits PDP

Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja

Members of the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party were on Thursday divided on who should replace the party’s erstwhile National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, said that there were some NEC members who insisted that the North-East should provide a replacement for the former governor of Bauchi State.

Metuh, who was speaking with journalists after the NEC meeting, which was held at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, said others also argued that the Acting National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, should be allowed to pilot the affairs of the party till March 2016 when it would hold a national convention.

Besides Metuh’s confirmation, it was also gathered that a member of NEC from Borno State had tried to move a motion on the need for Secondus to step aside but he was said to have been shouted down.

A member of NEC, who disclosed this to a few reporters, said the to allow the zone present a replacement for Mu’azu, was tantamount to injustice.

Mu'azu

But Metuh said some people were of the opinion that “the National Working Committee as it is presently constituted should be allowed to finish with the reforms it has started.

“Then some also argued that there was a time the South-East was not allowed to complete its turn when it had  the chairman of the party. What is therefore sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”

Our correspondent reports that  Metuh was referring to the period when Dr. Okwesilizie Nwodo, who is from the South-East, resigned and was replaced by Dr. Haliru Bello, who was until then, the deputy chairman of the party.

Metuh, however, said the issue of the replacement wasn’t jointly presented by the party’ caucus from the North-East, adding that it was some individuals who raised the issue.