A former acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Uche Secondus, has emerged as the party’s National Chairman, ending its long and troubled quest to elect leaders after it suffered defeat in the 2015 Presidential election.
Mr Secondus defeated a former Minister of Education, Professor Tunde Adeniran, Founder of Daar Communications, Raymond Dokpesi, as well as a Former Minister of Sports and Special Duties, Taoheed Adedoja, in a controversial election at its national convention which commenced on Saturday at the Eagles Square in Abuja.
While the party has now elected 21 other officials that will lead it in the quest to wrest power back from the All Progressives Congress (APC), here are some facts you may not know about its new national chairman.
1 Mr Secondus was born on March 22, 1955.
2 He completed his elementary and secondary education in Rivers State after which he attended the London Chambers of Commerce Institute where he obtained a certificate in Commerce.
3 He went into politics during the Second Republic in 1978 and has been a member of the PDP since 1999.
4 In 2007, he was the South-South Coordinator for the PDP National Campaign Council that organized the campaigns for the party during that year’s general elections.
5 In 2008, he became the National Organizing Secretary for the party, holding office until 2012.
6 Also in 2013, he was elected as the Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party and also briefly served as acting National Chairman of the party between 2015 and 2016 after the resignation of Adamu Mu’azu.
7 Secondus was the second chairman of the Rivers State PDP.
8 He was one of the only two candidates from the south-south region in the race for the National chairmanship seat in the just December 2017 convention.
Secondus’ desire to improve the lives of Riverians led to his entering politics during the Second Republic in 1978. He served as Rivers State Youth Leader of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Rivers State Publicity Secretary of the National Republican Convention (NRC) (1993 – 1998) and a two-term Chairman of the Rivers State People’s Democratic Party.While state party chair, he earned the sobriquet “Total Chairman”, and headed an influential group in the National Executive Committee known as G.84.
In 2007, Secondus was the South-South Coordinator for the PDP National Campaign Council that organized the campaigns for the party during that year’s general elections. In 2008, at the People’s Democratic Party Convention, he gained further promotion to National Organizing Secretary, holding office until 2012. Secondus is the pioneer Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). On 1 September 2013, he was elected Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party. He also briefly served as acting National Chairman of the party, following the resignation of Adamu Mu’azu in 2015.[6] On 10 December 2017 at the Eagles square, Secondus was elected as the PDP National Working Committee chairman after a keenly contested election.