Gulak, Secondus ‘fight’ over chairmanship of PDP

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took a new twist on Wednesday when Ahmed Gulak, former political adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, stormed the headquarters of the party in Abuja to take over as chairman.

Gulak, who arrived around 1:45 pm, addressed a news conference, where he announced that he had assumed the position of the party’s chairman.

He said his assumption of office was to complete the tenure of Adamu Muazu, from the north-east, who resigned his position on May 20.

Gulak said his assumption was in accordance with the judgement of federal high court sitting in Abuja.

On December 16, Husseini Baba-Yusuf, a judge, gave Uche Secondus, acting chairman, a two-week ultimatum to vacate office.

Baba-Yusuf ruled that the office of the chairman had been zoned to the north-east and Secondus, who is from the south-south, could not step in after the exit of Mu’azu.

Gulak had urged the court to stop Secondus from parading himself as the acting national chairman of the party.

But Secondus, who vowed to challenge the court judgement, failed to comply with the order and had been piloting the affairs of the party.

However, during his arrival at the Wadata Plaza headquarters on Wednesday, Gulak said he was ready to enforce the ruling.

“The court order on December 16, 2015 was that within 14 days, my humble self or any other person from the north-east zone be appointed to replace Dr Adamu Muazu who resigned his position as the national chairman of our party on May 20, 2015,” he said.

“At the expiration of the 14 days the defendants failed, refused or neglected to obey the court orders by appointing me or any other person from the north-east zone.

“By operations of the law and the court order, I now assume duty as the national chairman of our great party, especially as the court has today struck out the motion for stay of execution.

“Base on our sincere commitment and loyalty to our party, we cannot continue to leave our party headless.”

He said failure to assume duty as the national chairman would leave the party’s national working committee (NWC), the national executive council (NEC) and the national caucus improperly constituted.

He said his assumption of office was to prepare the ground for the NEC of the party to take the most appropriate decisions, adding that his leadership was willing to partner with all relevant stakeholders on efforts towards the tasks ahead.

“I crave the indulgence of the other NWC members to partner positively with me in our efforts to pick up the pieces and rebuild our party,” he said.

Some of the party’s loyalists who accompanied Gulak to the secretariat include: Doyin Okupe, former senior special assistant to Jonathan on public affairs and Moshoud Adegoke, a former member of the house of representatives from Lagos state.

Reacting to the development, Victor Kwon, the PDP national legal adviser, condemned the action of Gulak.

Kwon said the court order directed the party to appoint someone from the north-east to complete Mu’azu’s tenure and not specifically Gulak.

He added that the party was not aware of any ruling by the court on its application for a stay of execution of the earlier judgment.

Kwon added as a law abiding party, PDP would respect the orders of the court and the right of the north-east to complete its tenure.

“From what happened, today, it means that Gulak is a fifth columnist recruited to tear the party and he will not succeed,” he said.

“Consultations are going on to arrive at an agreeable for person from the north-east.

“NEC will be convened soon and new national chairman appointed. So I advice Gulak, if he is interested to be national chairman to lobby.”

Kwon blamed the delay in appointing someone from the north-east to serve out Mu’azu’s tenure on series of events that followed the 2015 general election.

He added that section 47 (6) of the PDP constitution does not prescribe time limit for an acting capacity.